SPEECH 


Sals  k 


OP  NEW  YORK. 


PUBLISHED  BY  REQUEST. 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

BUELL  &  BLANCHARD,  PRINTERS. 

1852. 


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-*a»-4  - 

pv. 


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SPEECH  OF  WILLIAM  A.  SACKETT. 


[Prepared  for  delivery  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  which,  owing  to  the  late  period  of  the 
session,  he  was  unable  to  get  the  floor  to  deliver  in  the  House.] 


Mr  Chairman-  My  object  in  addressing  the 
Committee  at  this  time  i3  not  so  much  to  express 
my  views  upon  the  bill  now  before  us,  as  to  avail 
myself  of  cue  usual  courtesy  of  the  House,  in  ex¬ 
pressing  to  the  country,  more  at  length  than  I 
have  heretofore  done,  my  views  upon  political  af¬ 
fairs,  upon  the  principles  of  p  '.rtles,  and  the 
claims  of  candidates  for  support. 

Tne  people  of  this  country  are  divided,  sub¬ 
stantially,  into  two  great  political  parties,  with 
oae  of  which  is  to  be  intrusted  the  administration 
of  the  Government.  There  are,  indeed,  other  po¬ 
litical  divisions;  divisions  having  the  sympathies 
of  many  men  of  the  purest,  morality  and  most  ex¬ 
alted  patriotism;  men  wao  are  bound  together  by 
no  love  of  place  or  power, 'bat  for  the  love  of  m  m, 
of  liberty,  and  the  sacred  truth  that  “all  men  are 
bora  /Vee  and  equal/’ 

There  is  still  another  class  of  politicians,  com¬ 
posed  not  S)  much  of  the  friends  of  the  Union  as 
of  the  friends  of  slavery;  the  support  of  slavery 
is  the  all-controlling  idea  of  this  class  of  men, 
and  their  perperual  practice  i>  slavery  agiration. 
They  m  iy  be  properly  styled  an  alliance  of  sec¬ 
tional  agitators,  who  are  constantly  fomenting 
section  il  strife,  and  who  seem  to  have  no  political 
capital  except  the  prejudice,  hatred,  and  alienation 
of  one  section  of  the  country  from  the  other. 
These  men  have  more  than  once  brought  the  safe¬ 
ty  of  the  Union  into  seeming  jeopardy,  have  open¬ 
ly  avowed  disunion  sentiments,  organized  disunion 
conventions,  and  encouraged  disloyalty.  The  in¬ 
fluence  of  this  spirit  h.>s  engendered  a  distrust 
between  different  parts  of  the  country,  that  has 
resulted  in  a  widespread  sectionality  of  feeling. 
Men  are  assailed  in  one  part  of  the  country  and 
■the  other  for  the  mo3t  imaginary  causes.  M:n 
who  are  themselves  patriotic  seem  to  ha|ie  fdlen 
(under  the  iufl  lence  of  this  groundless  sentiment. 

I  see  in  the  speech  of  the  gentleman  from  Vir¬ 
ginia,  [Mr.  Faulkner  ]  as  I  have  seen  in  numer¬ 
ous  speeches  made  on  tnis  floor,  an  attick  on  the 
position  and  political  character  of  a  distinguished 
•  Senator  [Vlr  Seward]  from  my  own  State.  After 
speikiog  of  his  Ohio  speech  and  his  election  to 
the  Senate,  he  says: 

‘ :  On  the  5  h  of  M  »rch,  1849,  he  took  his  seat 
in  that,  body,  to  advance  the  great  missiou  for 
which  he  w  is  elected,  aud  from  that  day  to  the 
present  he  has  stood  forward  before  the  country 
the  ioapersoua'ion  of  every  sentiment  hostile  to 
the  interests  and  institutions  of  the  South.” 

i  ask  the  distinguished  Representative  on  what 


he  banes  this  charge?  What  single  act  of  Mr. 
Seward’s  Senatorial  career  has  trespassed  on  one 
right  of  the  South?  I  defy  him  to  point  to  one. 
He  was  in  favor  of  the  admission  of  California  as 
a  free  Scats.  So  were  the  people  of  California. 
What  hal  the  South  to  do  with  this  question 
more  than  the  North?  He  was  against  giving  to 
Texas  ten  millions  for  what  she  never  owned. 
Was  this  Southern  aggression?  He  was  for  keep¬ 
ing  slavery  out  of  the  Territories,  where  it  then 
did  not  exist.  This  the  Government  had  been 
doing  ever  since  1787,  to  the  incalculable  advan¬ 
tage  of  the  whole  nation.  And  when  slavery 
so  far  violated  the  rights  of  freedom  as  to  at¬ 
tempt  to  subjugate  free  territory  to  its  control, 
he  resisted  with  all  the  eloquence  of  truth  and 
justice.  How  is  this  “  hostility  to  the  South?” 
When  the  slave  trade  in  this  District  wts  abol¬ 
ished,  he  voted  for  it.  And  when  the  Fugitive 
SLve  L  .w  was  passed,  he  demanded  “trial  by 
jury,”  in  conformity  to  every  principle  of  law 
known  to  modern  civilization,  in  this  great  strug¬ 
gle  his  opinions  were  overborne,  and  there  that 
matter  his  ended. 

N  o  man  iu  this  country  has  been  so  abused, 
traduced,  and  persecuted,  as  he,  but  he  has  sur¬ 
vived  it  all.  And  after  all  the  combinations 
and  unciring  efforts,  with  the  united  energies  of 
all  the  South  devoted  to  his  destruction  for  years, 
he  is  strouger  this  day  than  when  this  unmanly 
crusade  began.  The  people  are  not  deceived. 
They  have  watched  and  are  watching  now  all 
these  movements.  While  Mr.  Seward  i3  a  man 
of  a  high  order  of  talent,  his  strength  and  power 
is  not  of  himself.  It  is  the  cause  to  which  his 
life  is  devoted  that  gives  the  power.  He  is  armed 
with  the  full  armor  of  Christian  philanthropy, 
the  moral  power  off  human  rights;  and  though 
the  ie  igued  forces  of  ail  who  hate  the  progressive 
march  of  liberty  to  man  should  conspire  agaiost 
him,  it  would  be  a.  vain  effort  of  tyrannic  power. 
The  Earl  of  Chatham  said  to  the  British  Commons, 
“  three  millions  of  people  armed  in  the  hoiy  cause 
of  liberty  are  invincible  against  any  force  you 
cau  bring  against  them.”  Since  then  the  w  arid 
has  grown  older,  and  mankind  bow  with  a  deeper 
reverence  to  the  cause  of  human  freedom  And 
I  nowsiy.  one  mm  “armed  in  'he  holy  cause  of 
liberty,’*  is  an  overmatch  for  all  the  myrmidons 
of  power.  The  World  sits  in  judgment  on  such 
an  issue  as  this,  and  from  its  decision  there  is  no 
appeal.  You  will  be  compelled  to  submit^o  the 
“  finality”  of  its  judgment.  Oa  the  one  side  in 


4 


troth  and  the  progressive  rights  of  coming  time  ; 
on  the  other,  error,  passion,  and  the  delusions  of 
the  past. 

“  Truth  crushed  to  earth  will  rise  again  ; 

Th!  eternal  years  of  God  are  hers  ! 

But  error  wounded,  writhes  with  pain, 

And  dies  amidst  her  worshippers  ! :: 

NEW- LIGHT  DEMOCRACY. 

The  doctrines  of  the  so-called  Democratic  par¬ 
ty  have  entirely  changed  since  its  earlier  and 
better  days.  It  is  this  spirit  of  novelty,  this  dis¬ 
position  to  turn  upon  tried  doctrines  and  tried 
friends,  that  has  lost  to  that  party  so  many  of  its 
valuable  supporters,  and  given  to  its  wiser  and 
more  steady  opponent  the  victory  in  two  out  of 
the  three  last  Presidential  contests.  Such  causes 
produce  inevitably  such  results.  Had  Jefferson, 
Madison,  Monroe,  or  Jackson,  lived  at  this  day, 
they  could  not  have  been  the  supporters  of  such 
a  party.  They  were  ail  of  them  in  favor  of  a 
tariff  that  would  secure  to  the  laboring  population 
of  our  own  country  the  great  benefits  to  be  de¬ 
rived  from  supplying  our  own  wants.  They  ad¬ 
vocated  a  system  of  protection  that  preserved  to 
us  the  fcenefi‘8  of  our  cwn  markets,  that  would 
build  up,  and  that  in  fact  did  begin  to  build  up, 
the  great  interest  of  manufactures  in  this  coun¬ 
try.  They  could  see  no  reason  why  we  should 
not  make  our  own  wool,  aDd  cotton,  and  flax,  into 
cloth  ;  no  wisdom  in  being  dependent  on  England 
for  what  we  require  for  the  use  of  ourselves  and 
families,  la  short,  they  were  for  American  in¬ 
terests,  for  true  national  independence. 

Mr.  Jefferson  said  : 

“  Select  the  articles  we  can  and  ought  to  manu¬ 
facture  for  ourselves.  Give  them  full  and  ade¬ 
quate  protection.” 

General  Jackson  said  : 

“If  we  omit  to  use  the  gifts  God  has  extended 
to  us.  we  deserve  not  the  continuation  of  his  bless¬ 
ings.  He  has  filled  our  mountains  and  our  plains 
with  minerals — with  lead,  iron,  and  copper — and 
given  us  climate  and  soil  for  the  growth  of  wool, 
hemp,  and  cotton.  These  being  the  grand  ma¬ 
terials  for  our  national  defence,  they  ought  to 
have  extended  to  them  adequate  and  fair  protec¬ 
tion,  that  our  manufacturers  and  laborers  may  be 
put  on  a  fair  competition  with  those  of  Europe. 
*  *  *  Where  has  the  American  farmer  a 
market?  Except  for  cotton,  he  has  neither  a 
foreign  ncr  home  market.  *  *  Common 

sense  points  out  at  once  the  remedy.  Draw  from 
agriculture  this  suberabundance  of  labor,  employ 
it  in  mechanism  and  rcanuf  .ctures ;  thereby  crea¬ 
ting  a  home  market  for  your  b'-eadstuffs,  aud  dis¬ 
tributing  labor  to  the  most  profitable  account,  and 
benefits  to  the  couutry  will  result.  *  *  * 

In  short,  we  have  been  too  long  subject  to  the  pol¬ 
icy  of  British  merchants.  It  is  time  we  should 
become  a  little  more  Americanized” 

Other  counsels  now  prevail.  These  old  guides 
and  lights  are  now  all  cast  aside — trampled  in  the 
dust — their  doctrines  treated  with  contemDt;  and 
the  new  and  alien  giddess  of  free  trade  is  placed 
in  the  honored  niche  of  the  temple  of  Democratic 
faith  for  worship.  That  party  is  now  openly 


opposed  to  maintaining  principles  that  will  enable 
us  to  supply  ourselves  ;  to  giving  to  the  laborers 
of  this  county  the  labor  required  to  make  the  two 
hundred  millions  of  goods  imported  from  abroad  ?' 
This  is  new-light  Democracy ,  not  of  the  Jefferson, 
Madison,  or  Jackson  school.  Now,  is  it  strange, 
under  circumstances  like  these,  that  so  many  true 
and  faithful  men — men  who  love  their  country 
and  its  prosperity — are  leaving  a  party  professing 
so  aDti-Ameiican  a  creed  as  this  ?  The  wonder  is 
it  retains  any  supporters  at  all.  Principles  like 
these  are  more  the  principles  of  a  British  than  an 
American  party.  Under  their  destructive  in¬ 
fluence,  millions  after  millions  of  the  hard  earn¬ 
ings  of  our  countrymen  go  annually  to  Bwell  the 
aristocratic  power  of  England,  our  greatest  rival. 

THE  LONDON  TIMES. 

It  is  not  strange  that  the  London  Times ,  the 
leading  journal  of  Royalty  in  England,  should 
claim,  as  it  does  claim,  the  triumph  of  such  a  par¬ 
ty  and  the  election  of  Gen.  Pierce,  as  a  triumph 
of  British  policy  in  America.  The  following  are 

extracts  from  that  nrint.  viz: 

* 

“The  sudden  turn  in  parties  which  brought  up 
the  name  cf  General  Pierce,  in  preference  to  those 
of  General  Cass,  Mr.  Buchanan,  and  Mr  Doug¬ 
las,  placed  a  man  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  great 
political  sections  cf  the  United  States,  who,  though 
less  known  than  his  competitors,  is  probably  more 
worthy  of  confidence  and  esteem.” 

****** 

“  Gen.  Pierce  has  our  best  wishes  for  his  success. 

“The  primary  question  for  the  United  States 
in  this  election,  is  the  national  sanction  and  inviola¬ 
ble  establi.  hment  of  the  'principle  of  free  trade.” 
****** 

“  The  triumph  of  the  candidate  of  the  Democratic 
party ,  brought  forward  by  the  men  of  the  South ,  will 
secure ,  probably  forever ,  the  ascendency  of  liberal 
commercial  pr in ciples .” 

*  •  *  *  *  *  * 

“  la  this  respect,  and  on  this  point,  we  take 
Gen.  Pierce  to  be  a  fair  representative  of  the 
opinions  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  and,  as  such,  a  valuable 
practical  ally  to  the  commercial  policy  of  this  country 

Here  is  an  open  advocate  of  the  election  of  an 
American  President  as  a  British  ally — as  a  sup¬ 
porter  of  British  interests;  and  we  are  asked  on 
this  side  of  the  water  to  sustain  the  m  n  who 
holds  such  relations  to  this  country.  England 
has  a  trade  of  $150,000,000  a  year  involved  in  the 
quesrio#  of  ihe  election  the  London  Times  is  ad¬ 
vocating.  She  i3  accustomed  to  sustain  her  com¬ 
mercial  and  manufiCturinst  ascendency  at  any 
hazard  and  at  any  cost.  What  can  be.  the  meaning 
of  this  foreshadowed,  support  of  a  free  trade  candidate 
in  the  most  influential  oj  English  journals  ?  Is  Brit¬ 
ish  gold  to  follow,  to  be  used  in  this  canvass  to  se¬ 
cure  the  triumph  of  her  policy  ?  This  is  a  marked 
point  in  our  political  history,  and  I  call  on  the 
country  to  take  notice  of  this  interference  of  the 
great  enemy  of  our  commercial  and  manufacturing 
prosperity.  Why  is  it  that  Mr  Pierce  is  the  can¬ 
didate  of  English  favor?  He  is  for  that  free 
trade  that  gives  to  England  our  markets,  that 
enables  her  alone  to  import  into  this  country 
more  than  a  hundred  miliione  annually.  The 


5 


capitalists  of  that  country  might  well  afford  to 
pay  millions  to  secure  his  election;  for,  with  the 
triumph  of  his  policy,  our  markets  are  theirs — 
they  will  monopolize  a  trade  of  at  least  Five  Hun¬ 
dred  Millions  in  the  four  years  of  his  adminis¬ 
tration,  to  the  exclusion  of  our  own  people.  And 
besides,  England  remembers  Gen.  Scott,  and  she 
fears  his  American  policy  now,  as  she  did  his 
American  valor  forty  years  ago 


BANKS 


In  the  days  of  Gen.  Jackson,  the  Democratic 
party  was  so  violently  opposed  to  banks  rhit  it 
became  its  rallying  cry;  and  in  les3  than  four 
years,  under  Mr.  Van  Buren,  the  whole  party  or- 
gmizition  was  so  steeped  iu  corruption  witn  the 
pec  bank  system,  that  the  people  hurled  it  from 
power. 

DEFALCATIONS. 


The  party  heretofore,  as  it  now  does,  unde 
loud  professions  of  economy  and  strict  account¬ 
ability  ;  but  when  in  power,  mostly  in  one  short 
administration,  the  people  were  robbed,  by  offi¬ 
cers  alone,  every  one  of  whom  that  party  brought 
into  office,  of  millions  of  the  public  treasure. 
Here  are  some  of  the  items: 

The  following  table  of  defalcations,  between 
April,  1830,  and  July,  1S39,  (mostly  between 
1836  and  1839,)  is  furnished  by  the  Treasury 
Department: 


Names.  Places  of  Residence. 

S  tmuel  S wart wout,  New  York,  -  -  SI 
William  M.  Price,  li  -  - 
A.S.  Thurston,  Key  West.  Fla.,  - 
G.  W.  Green,  Mobile,  Ala.,  -  -  - 

I.  T.  Canby.  Crawfordsville.  Ind.,  - 

A.  McCarty,  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  -  - 

B.  F.  Edwards,  Edwardsviile.  Ill., 

W.  L  Ewing.  Yindalia.  - 

John  Hays,  Jackson.  Msseissippi,  - 
W.  M  Green,  Palmyra.  “  -  - 
B  S.  Ch  ambers.  Little  Rock,  Ark. 

D  L  Todd,  Opelousas,  Louisiana, 

A  R.  Rogers,  “  “  -  - 

J.  Cannon.  New  Orleans,  -  -  - 

M.  W.  McDaniel,  Washington,  Miss. 
B.  H  Owen, St.  Stephens,  Ala,  -  -  # 

G.  B  Crutcher,  Choctaw.  Miss.,  - 

G.  B  Ditneron,  k<  “  -  - 

S.  W.  Dickson,  lw  -  - 

(C  ((  1C 


Amt.  of  Def. 
.225,705  69 
75,000  00 
2,8S2  15 
11.173  48 
39.031 
1.308 
3  215 
16.754 


1,386 


31 

92 

76 

29 

18 

19 

23 


57 

87 


2  312 
2.149 
27,130 
6.624 
1.259  23 
6^000  00 
30,611  97 
6,061  40 
39,059  64 
11.231  90 
S93'53 


W.  P.  Harris,  Columbus,  “  -  - 
William  Taylor,  Cahawba,  Ala.,  - 
U.  G.  Mitchell,  1C  JC  -  - 
J  W.  Stephenson,  Galena,  Ill ,  -  - 
Littiebury  Hawkins.  Helena,  Ark  . 
S.  W.  Beall,  Green  Bay,  - 
Joseph  Friend,  Washita,  La.,  -  - 
William  H.  Allen,  St  Augustine,  - 
G.  D.  Boyd,  Columbus,  Miss..  -  - 
R  H.  Stirling,  Choccuma,  Miss,  - 
Paris  Childs,  Greensburg.  La., 
William  Linn,  Vandalia,  Illinois  - 
Samuel  T.  Scott,  Jackson,  Miss,  - 
J  as.  T.  Pollock,  Crawfordsville,  Ind. 
John  L.  Daniel,  Opelousas,  La,  - 
Morgan  Neville,  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
-M.  J.  Allen,  Tallahassee,  Florida,  - 


109,178  OS 
23,116  IS 
54,226  55 
43,294  04 
100,000  00 
19.620  16 
2,551  01 
1.997  50 
50,937  29 
10J73  70 
12,449  76 
55,062  06 
15  550  47 
14,891  98 
7,280  63 
13,781  19 
26  691  57 


R.obert  T.  Brown,  Springfield,  Miss.  $3,600  50 


Total, . $2,064,209  86 

With  this  catalogue  of  public  plundering  still 
blistering  on  their  foreheads,  these  same  men  now 
ask  the  American  people  to  restore  them  to  power. 

RIVERS  AND  HARBORS. 

The  improvement  of  rivers  and  harbors  was  an 
early  and  a  cherished  doctrine  of  all  parties  ;  but 
the  lights  of  the  present  day,  that  seek  a  restora¬ 
tion  to  power,  couple  with  their  hostility  to  Amer¬ 
ican  labor,  hostility  to  commerce  and  the  improve¬ 
ment  of  our  lakes  and  rivers.  Elect  Mr.  Pierce, 
and  there  is  an  end  of  all  protection  to  this  great 
interest ;  every  vote  and  every  act  of  his  life  have 
been  against  all  such  improvements.  The  lives 
of  our  citizens.  the  security  of  their  property,  a 
just  distribution  of  the  benefits  of  Government, 
equally  demand  cur  efficient  aid  on  this  subject. 
That  aid  he  has  uniformly  refused ;  and  even  now, 
after  the  lapse  of  fourteen  years  of  party  opposi¬ 
tion,  a  bill,  little  more  than  an  insult  to  the  great 
interest  involved,  has,  from  the  fears  of  political 
consequences,  been  forced  out  of  bis  supporters. 
But  let  the  ides  of  November  pass  in  his  favor, 
and  no  such  measure  will  see  the  light  again. 
And  what  is  this  bill?  A  bill  that  gives  more  to 
a  few  little  harbors  and  a  few  hundred  miles  of 
rivers  on  the  seaboard,  than  to  twenty  thousand 
miles  of  river  navigation  and  two  thousand  five 
hundred  miles  of  lake  coast  in  the  West.  Where 
least  is  needed,  most  is  given.  On  the  Western 
rivers  alone,  more  than  four  hundred  steamboats 

i 

have  been  sunk  within  the  last  fifteen  years, 
worth  more  than  ten  millions ,  and  property  valued 
at  eighteen  millions  has  been  lost  for  the  want  of 
safe  navigation.  Every  effort  to  amend  this  par¬ 
tial  and  unjust  bill  w  is  originally  voted  down  in 
the  House;  propositin  after  proposition  to  ren¬ 
der  it  more  just  and  equal  met  with  the  same  fate, 
and  it  was  only  after  all  hope  failed,  that  the 
friends  of  improvement  finally  passed  the  meas¬ 
ure,  with  the  small  aid  secured  from  the  Demo¬ 
cratic  side,  through  political  fears.  It  has  since 
been  amended  in  the  Senate. 

FREE  SOIL. 

The  next  important  subject  upon  which  the 
Free  Soil  wing  of  that  party  have  proved  false,  is 
the  subject  of  slavery.  While  they  have  been 
the  most  violent  traducers  of  the  South  at  home, 
they  are  the  most  truckling  sycophants  of  its  sup¬ 
porters  here.  No  language  is  too  vile  for  them  to 
apply  to  Southern  institutions  among  the  people 
of  the  North,  and  no  position  too  humble  for  them 
to  occupy  before  the  power  of  the  South.  Eter¬ 
nal  hostility  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  is  their 
deceptive  cry  with  the  masses,  and  a  pledged  and 
plighted  faith  to  its  support  is  their  bond  of  union 
with  their  allies  in  the  slave  States.  They  have 
betrayed  every  profession,  falsified  every  promise 
on  this  suhject,  and  are  now  joined  baud  in  hand 
in  a  political  race,  dictated  by  the  despotic  sway 
of  their  Southern  rule: 8  They  are  devoted  to 
the  support  of  men  and  to  the  support  of  measures 
intended  to  sow  broadcast,  unchecked  and  unre¬ 
strained,  the  dominion  of  bondage,  wherever  and 
whenever  it  demands  the  sacrifice.  This  apostacy 


6 


is  the  work  of  politicians,  cot  of  the  people ;  and 
it  shows  they  were  false  in  the  beginning — that 
in  all  their  oaths  of  fealty  to  freedom  there  was 
no  reality.  Bat  the  convictions  of  the  people  are 
far  otherwise — they  cannot  be  seduced  by  power; 
they  will  maintain  their  principles,  and  leave  the 
deceivers  of  their  confidence  to  a  fate  deserved.. 

pierce’s  nomination. 

Look  at  the  history  of  the  nomination  of  the 
candidates  of  that  party.  Every  leading  man  of 
the  party  was  cast  aside  at  Baltimore,  regardless 
of  claims,  services,  or  position,  to  find  a  man  whose 
life  was  marked  and  branded  with  the  true  South¬ 
ern  stamp.  Mr  Pierce  was  brought  forward  by 
the  South,  and,  as  is  said  by  Southern  men,  be¬ 
cause  he  had  a  ‘‘fair  record”  on  the  subject  of 
slavery.  This  is  undisguised  ;  this  indeed  was  his 
sole  recommendation ;  but  for  this  one  feature  of  his 
character,  he  would  never  have  been  thought  of. 
His  nomination  was  the  result  of  a  sectional  feel¬ 
ing,  and  cannot  be  regarded  in  any  other  light 
than  as  a  sectional  nomination.  When  leaders 
are  guilty  of  such  abandonment  of  ail  that  is  na¬ 
tional,  of  principle  and  of  right;  when  they  so 
deceive  their  followers;  when  the  most  worthy 
are  trampled  under  foot,  for  such  reasons  and  for 
such  a  man,  a  just  condemnation  is  as  sure  to  fol¬ 
low  as  effect  follows  cause. 

The  South  was  not  mistaken  in  their  man — 
they  knew  him  well.  Hardly  had  be  been  nomi¬ 
nated,  when,  pressed  at  home  by  popular  opinion, 
the  men  who  had  in  the  face  of  Southern  power 
abandoned  all,  began  to  say  that  their  candidate 
had  whispered  discontent  with  the  Fugitive  Act — 
a  law  that  violates  every  principle  of  justice 
known  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  race — and  the  charge 
is  at  once  denied  by  himself  and  friends,  as  if  the 
unpardonable  sin  had  been  committed.  Denial 
after  denial  follows  in  such  quick  succession,  it  is 
difficult  to  keep  pace  with  them.  The  language 
of  denunciation  is  fierce  and  unrelenting  against 
all  who  dare  proclaim  so  great  profanation  against 
the  record  of  his  life.  Yes,  he  was  required  to 
deny,  and  has  denied,  his  opposition  to  a  law  that 
two-thirds  of  the  people  of  this  Union  believe  to 
be  unjust  and  oppressive.  I  believe  this  is  the 
only  charge  of  Northern’sentiment  ever  brought 
against  him,  and  he  has  denied  it  ail. 

Again  :  in  the  letter  of  acceptance  of  Mr  Pierce, 
he  humbles  himself,  and  declares  his  slavery  prin¬ 
ciples,  in  the  following  words,  viz : 

“I  accept  the  nomination  upon  the  platform 
adopted  by  the  Convention,  not  because  this  is 
expected  of  me  as  a  candidate,  but  because  the 
principles  it  embraces  command  the  approbation  of  my 
judgment ,  and  with  them  I  believe  I  can  safely 

say,  THERE  HAS  BEEN  NO  WORD  NOR  ACT  OF  MY 
LIFE  IN  CONFLICT.” 

These  principles  were  an  open  pledge  to  the 
support  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  and  to  the 
compromise  of  Liberty,  for  the  favor  and  support 
of  Slavery.  Any  man  who  will  read  the  resolu¬ 
tions  to  which  the  above  extract  is  a  response  will 
see  all  this. 

And  thus  has  the  old  Democratic  party  been 
transformed  into  the  time-serving  thing  of  the 
present  day — riady  to  do  the  bidding  of  its  mas¬ 


ters  ;  thus  are  all  required  to  bow  the  knee  and 
give  aid  and  comfort  to  practices  and  principles 
like  these.  It  may  not  be  too  low  a  bow  for  the 
plastic  mould  of  place-hunting  leaders,  but  the 
people  will  never  bend  their  necks  to  a  yoke  like 
this.  Politicians  may  be  bought  and  sold,  but 
the  people  never  can.  There  are  Esaus  in  every 
age,  ready  to  sell  the  birthright  of  freedom  for  a 
mess  of  pottage,  but  they  are  not  of  the  masses  of 
the  people — they  are  the  trucksters  of  office. 

WHIG  FARTY — THE  TARIFF. 

I  now  come  to  consider  the  principles  of  the 
Whig  party  in  relation  to  the  great  questions  of 
national  policy,  in  which  the  American  people  are 
so  much  interested.  The  Whig  party  has  always 
Btood  by  the  cause  of  American  labor;  one  of  its 
cardinal  doctrines  is  to  so  protect  ourselves  as  to 
enable  us  to  supply  our  own  wants.  We  hold,  it 
is  better  to  employ  labor  in  our  own  country  than 
to  support  the  capital  of  foreign  nations;  that  our 
firet  and  highest  duty  is  to  our  interests  at  home. 
We  do  not  manufacture  as  much,  by  a  hundred 
and  fifty  millions  annually,  as  we  ought  to.  Our 
importations  show  this.  The  doctrine  of  the 
W-hig  party  is,  that  it  would  be  much  wiser  to 
keep  the  hundred  and  fifty  millions,  paid  for  im¬ 
portations,  here,  and  not  send  it  beyond  the  reach 
of  the  business,  the  labor,  the  wants  of  ourselves 
It  would  help  to  pay  our  taxes,  build  our  roads, 
support  our  schools,  improve  our  country;  give 
labor  to  those  who  want  it ;  better  enable  them  to 
educate  their  children,  clothe  and  feed  their  fam¬ 
ilies,  and  to  provide  for  a  day  of  need.  This  is 
Whig  doctrine. 

I  will  illustrate  the  subject  by  evidence  drawn 
from  my  own  neighborhood.  There  are  four  cot¬ 
ton  and  woollen  factories  situated  in  one  of  the 
counties  I  represent.  I  am  quite  sure  no  reason¬ 
able  man  will  dispute  the  proposition,  that  it  is 
better  to  have  these  factories  situated  where  they 
are,  and  to  have  them  continue  to  do  business 
there,  than  to  have  them  transferred  to  England, 
and  the  work  they  do,  the  labor  they  supply,  the 
money  they  pay  out,  the  mechanics  they  employ, 
the  trade  and  business  they  afford,  all  transferred 
with  them,  so  as  to  have  the  whole  operation  per¬ 
formed  tker'p.  Such  a.  change  would  remove  from 
a  single  locality  four  or  Sve  hundred  thousand 
dollars  capital,  and  throw  some  seven  or  eight 
hundred  persons,  men,  women,  and  children,  out 
of  employment.  Any  man  in  favor  of  a  transfer 
like  this,  might  well  be  accused  of  hostility  to  the 
country.  And  still  the  free-trade  policy  of  the 
Democratic  party  is  doiDg  this  very  thing  all  over 
the  United  States,  and  has  been  since  the  tariff 
of  1846.  Of  course  I  do  not  mean  in  a  literal 
sense,  but  do  mean  as  a  substantial  truth,  as  our 
importations  of  more  than  two  hundred  millions 
every  year  prove  by  the  record.  The  factories 
would  be  here  if  these  millions  were  made  here; 
they  are  transferred  to  England,  and  France,  and 
Germany,  because  they  are  made  there;  and  so 
we  are  sending  the  earnings  of  this  country  to 
Europe  at  the  rate  of  two  hundred  millions  a 
year,  to  buy  what  we  ought  to  make  and  buy  at 
borne.  There  is  not  a  day  laborer  in  the  whole 
country  but  is  compelled  to  send  part  of  his  daiTy 


7 


wages  to  England  to  pay  for  what,  under  this  free- 
trade  system,  we  are  dependent  on  England  for; 
so  that  every  tnan,  rich  or  poor,  is  put  under  con¬ 
tribution  so  long  as  this  system  continues.  The 
farmer  must  send  the  money  he  gets  for  his  pro¬ 
duce,  the  mechanic  the  fruits  of  his  labor,  the 
merchant  the  profits  of  his  toil ;  and  so  all  in  turn 
pay  tribute  for  the  great  privilege  of  having  our 
own  business  done  abroad. 

It  is  a  great  loss  to  any  country  to  take  away  a 
hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  its  business;  it 
*  would  be  a  loss  to  a  town  to  take  away  a  hundred 
thousand  dollars;  if  a  farmer  gets  but  four  hun¬ 
dred  bushels  of  wheat  where  he  ought  to  have 
five,  the  loss  of  the  one  hundred  may  lose  him  all 
the  real  profits  of  his  crop ;  if  the  laborer  gets  but 
six  shillings  when  he  ought  to  have  a  dollar,  he 
feels  severely  the  loss.  So  with  the  people  of  a 
nation  ;  a  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  their  busi¬ 
ness  can’t  be  taken  awav  and  transferred  to  other 
countries  without  great  detriment  to  all  their  in¬ 
terests  ;  neither  can  any  great  and  leading  branch 
of  business,  that  a  people  can  do  and  ought  to  do, 
be  neglected  or  done  elsewhere  without  a  like  in¬ 
jury.  We  could  not  become  exclusively  manu¬ 
facturers  and  neglect  agriculture,  and  flourish ; 
we  cannot  be  producers  alone,  and  prosper.  It  is 
therefore  Whig  doctrine  to  adopt  such  a  national 
policy  as  will  secure  to  us  all  these  advantages. 
This  cannot  be  done  withoat  a  tariff — such  a  tariff 
as  will  protect  our  interests,  so  long  as  we  main¬ 
tain  the  institutions  under  which  we  live. 

Free  trade  is  practically  no  more  nor  less  than 
a  doctrine  calculated  to  change  our  Government 
from  a  Republic  to  an  Aristocracy ;  and  the  reasons 
are  these  :  In  Europe,  capital  has  the  power  over 
labor,  and  grinds  it  down  to  the  lowest  possible 
standard.  The  countries  of  Europe,  and  especially 
England,  on  all  articles  they  can  make,  are  mainly 
free  trade,  because  th  y  have  oppressed  labor 
down  to  so  Iowa  standard  that  there  are  no  other 
parts  of  the  world  engaged  in  manufacturing 
where  labor  is  as  low  as  theirs ;  so  that  what  is 
produced  elsewhere  cannot  come  into  their  mar¬ 
kets  as  low  as  they  can  sell  it  themselves — there¬ 
fore,  free  trade  for  them  is  nothing — they  lose  no 
business  by  it.  Not  so  with  us.  We  pay  a  wide¬ 
ly  different  price  for  labor;  we  maintain  equality 
of  condition  by  this  system ;  the  poor  grow 
rich — the  child  born  in  poverty  dies  the  man  of 
wealth;  and  thus  a  happy  diffusion  of  all  the 
blessings  of  society  are  sown  broadcast,  that  all, 
rich  and  poor,  high  and  low.  may  reap,  if  they 
will,  its  manifold  harvest.  With  free  trade,  with 
nothing  to  secure  to  labor  its  republican  standard, 
it  is  at  cnce  thrown  in  competition  with  the  two 
hundred  millions  in  Europe,  who  receive  about 
four  shillings  where  the  laborer  of  this  country 
receives  a  dollar.  So  great  is  the  depression 
there,  and  so  great  the  difference  here,  that  it  is 
of  every  day  practice  for  the  strong  and  the  vig¬ 
orous,  both  man  and  woman,  to  emigrate  to  this 
country,  end  earn  the  money  to  bring  their  friends 
here,  they  being  unable  to  earn  enough  at  home 
to  get  here. 

We  have  of  free  laborers  in  this  country,  of 
both  sexes,  say  ten  millions;  while  Europe  has  a 
hundred  and  fif:y  millions.  Hew  are  our  ten 


millions  to  thrive  and  prosper,  if  anything  and 
•everything  the  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  Eu¬ 
rope  can  produce  is  to  come  into  our  markets, 
made  for  four  shillings  upon  equal  terms  with 
what  we  make  for  a  dollar?  The  proposition  is 
too  plain  for  argument.  The  labor  of  the  coun¬ 
try  must  be  protected,  or  we  must  give  up  making 
whatever  can  be  made  in  Europe  and  sent  here. 

But  those  who  oppose  the  support  of  our  own 
labor  say  all  this  argument  shows  that  we  shall 
have  to  pay  under  this  system  higher  prices  for 
what  we  want  to  consume,  if  we  adopt  the  Amer¬ 
ican  system.  I  intend  to  answer  this  proposition, 
for  it  is  unsound.  Every  foreign  country  that 
supplies  the  wants  of  a  distant  nation,  trades  upon 
the  principle  of  monopoly — and  it  is  especially  so 
in  articles  of  manufacture.  While  we  compete, 
prices  are  kept  down ;  but  without  opposition 
they  at  once  rise.  There  is  no  reason  why  Eng¬ 
land  should  sell  to  us  cheap,  if  she  has  the  power 
to  sell  dear;  and  this  power  she  always  has,  when 
she  has  a  monopoly  of  the  trade.  This  advan¬ 
tage  any  nation  and  any  individual  will  take  to 
himself.  If  she  has  the  sale  of  an  article  in  our 
markets  that  we  do  not  make,  she  can  sejl  dear, 
because  she  has  a  monopoly ;  and  still,  the  mo¬ 
ment  we  began  to  make  it,  if  we  did  not  protect 
ourselves,  she  could,  with  her  cheap  labor,  come 
down  to  a  less  price  than  we  could  live  by,  and 
break  us  down,  and  then  again  resume  the  high 
prices  of  a  monopoly. 

We  have  protected  coarse  cotton  goods  till 
we  have  thoroughly  established  ourselves  in  the 
trade.  Does  any  man  in  his  senses  believe,  if 
we  had  never  manufactured  cotton,  that  we  would 
buy  it  as  cheap  a?  we  now  do?  You  break  down 
every  cotton  mill  in  America,  aDd  leave  to  Europe 
a  monopoly  of  the  trade  for  twenty-five  millions 
of  people,  and  prices  would  rise,  and  for  the  rea¬ 
son  I  have  stated.  But  you  withdraw  protection, 
and  they  could  sell  cheaper  than  we,  so  that  they 
would  have  the  power  to  destroy  our  investments, 
and  after  tbej'  had  destroyed  them  they  would 
establish  their  own  prices.  So  it  is  with  every  other 
article — iron,  nails,  woollens,  and  all  sorts  of  pro¬ 
ductions.  The  standard  of  protection  should  be: 
What  will  enable  us  to  make  the  article  ?  Domes¬ 
tic  competition  will  always  regulate  the  price. 

The  spirit  of  monopoly  governs  our  own  im¬ 
porters  as  much  as  European.  They  are  but  few 
in  number,  have  large  capitals,  and  are  governed 
by  prices  regulated  among  themselves;  so  that 
the  argument  that  we  can  buy  as  cheap  in  England 
as  the  English,  amounts  to  nothing.  The  people 
do  not  buy  there,  but  every  dollar  the  people  con¬ 
sume  has  to  go  through  the  same  process  of  a 
monopolized  trade,  and  whether  an  American  or 
an  Englishman  import,  it  is  the  same  thing  to  the 
consumer ;  they  are  both  governed  by  the  same  rule 
of  time,  distance,  and  the  monopolizing  character 
of  a  foreign  trade. 

I  represent  eighty  thousand  people  on  this  floor, 
no  one  cf  whom  imports  a  dollar’s  worth  of  what 
they  U3e;  they  therefore  have  no  control  over  the 
prices  they  have  to  pay.  If  what  they  use  could 
be  made  profitably  at  home,  they  have  capital 
enough,  could  engage  in  the  business,  an  1  them¬ 
selves  regulate  by  competition  the  price,  sc  as  to 


8 


prevent  monopoly.  This  is  always  the  course  of 
a  domestic  trade.  There  is  always  keenness  enough 
to  engage  in  anything  that  is  profitable,  when  it  is 
within  the  reach  of  the  mass  of  the  people ;  but  this 
cannot  be  done  in  a  distant  foreign  trade — that  the 
people  generally  have  nothing  to  do  with :  it  is  all 
done  by  few  men  and  large  capital.  I  question 
whether  nearly  all  of  the  two  hundred  millions 
imported  into  this  country,  is  not  imported  by 
less  than  a  thousand  men,  all  collected  at  a  few 
points  in  large  cities.  The  fact  is,  monopoly  in  a 
foreign  trade  rises  to  a  principle.  The  human 
mind  will  not  consider  the  risks  of  time  and  dis¬ 
tance  without  the  element  of  large  profits  being 
connected  with  it.  The  whale  fisheries  have  been 
carried  on  for  many  years  almost  exclusively  by 
a  few  towns  of  New  England,  and  all  because  the 
elements  of  time  and  distance  leave  it  in  their 
hands  as  a  monopoly.  So  of  the  China  trade,  and 
hence  large  fortunes  are  suddenly  amassed  in  this 
business.  So  it  is  with  importers.  Who  does 
not  know  that  the  large  wealth  of  this  class  is  out 
of  all  proportion  to  the  rest  of  community  ?  And 
it  all  arises  from  the  principle  I  have  stated.  The 
linen  trade  has  been  carried  on  nearly  exclusive¬ 
ly  with  foreign  countries,  and  we  never  have  com¬ 
peted.  What  is  the  effect?  While  all  things 
where  we  have  entered  into  competition  have 
greatly  fallen,  that  article  is  nearly  of  the  same 
price  it  was  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago:  so  with 
silks,  crockery,  and  all  other  articles  that  remain 
in  th  e  same  condition — so  that  it  is  no  solecism 
to  say  we  can?t  manufacture  without  protection  ; 
and  still  with  protection,  in  the  end.  we  shall  get 
what  is  made  here  cheaper  than  if  imported. 

There  is  much  popular  error  as  to  the  extent 
or  per  cent,  of  a  tariff1.  There  is  and  should  be 
no  fixed  standard  that  should  remain  permanent 
on  this  subject.  The  only  rule  is,  what  will  en¬ 
able  us  to  make?  When  this  is  found,  the  true 
standard  is  found.  This,  of  course,  would  require 
a  higher  rule  in  the  beginning  than  after  we  have 
acquired  experience.  1  would  not  have  a  monop¬ 
oly  for  manufacturers  in  this  country,  any  more 
than  I  would  allow  a  monopoly  to  be  enjoyed 
abroad.  Give  us  the  power  to  make,  and  that  is 
all  I  ask.  Now,  a  small  shade  of  profit  or  loss  is 
prosperity  or  ruin.  A  tariff  five  per  cent,  too 
low  is  just  a3  fatal  as  though  there  wa3  no  tariff 
at  all ;  and  such  a  tariff  is  a3  much  free  trade  as 
though  we  were  to  throw  open  our  ports. 

All  experience  has  shown  the  effect  of  a  mo¬ 
nopolized  foreign  trade.  There  is  not  an  article 
we  are  now  supplied  with  at  home,  but  i3  cheaper 
than  it  was  when  we  were  supplied  with  the  same 
article  from  abroad ;  and  still  we  should  not  have 
been  supplied  at  home  to  this  day,  if  we  had  not 
in  the  beginning  so  protected  ourselves  as  to  es¬ 
tablish  us  in  the  business.  All  this  is  eminently 
true  of  cottons,  nails,  glass,  and  numerous  other 
articles  that  might  be  mentioned. 

This  free-trade  policy  arises  from  the  same 
causes  in  this  country  as  in  Europe.  It  is  the 
doctrine  of  the  South,  and  except  for  the  South 
there  would  be  no  such  doctrine  here.  Now,  in 
the  South,  labor  is  as  much  depressed,  and  more, 
too,  as  in  Europe.  The  people  there  want  to 
adopt  no  policy  that  will  elevate  the  standard  of 


labor.  Subjugated  labor  is  one  of  their  peculiar 
institutions,  and  any  policy  that  will  keep  it  sub¬ 
jugated  is  just  what  they  want,  and  hence  arises 
the  whole  doctrine  of  free  trade  in  this  country. 
It  is  with  amazement  that  I  see  so  many  of  the 
laboring  classes  in  the  North  captivated  with  the 
terms,  for  it  cannot  be  with  the  principles,  of  free 
trade.  Europe  and  the  South  combine  on  this 
subject,  and  it  is  all  a  blow  at  the  free  labor  of  the 
North — so  thousands  intend  it.  Our  free  labor, 
in  the  independence  it  has  maintained,  has  ex¬ 
cited  the  jealousy  of  the  aristocratic  wealth  of 
Europe  and  of  the  slave  wealth  of  the  South. 
And  I  appeal  to  that  labor  to  be  true  to  itself ; 
true  to  its  own  interests ;  true  to  the  independ¬ 
ence  and  glory  it  has  acquired. 

A  gentleman  [Mr.  Clingman]  told  us  the  other 
day,  that  while  the  price  of  labor  among  the  iron 
workers  of  Pennsylvania  was  a  dollar  and  six  cents 
per  day,  it  was  but  thirty-nine  cents  iu  North 
Carolina.  One  was  free  labor,  and  the  other  doubt¬ 
less  slave  labor:  and  hence  arose  his  argument 
that  we  could  not  manufacture  because  so  much 
was  paid  for  labor.  In  other  words,  that  we  must 
come  to  the  Southern  and  European  standard. 
To  be  sure,  he  ^aid  he  would  be  glad  if  high^wa- 
ges  could  be  paid  :  but  at  the  same  time  he  would 
take  off  the  duty,  (on  railroad  iron,)  the  effect  of 
which  would  be  to  close  our  own  works  and  give 
the  whole  trade  to  England,  unless  we  come  to 
their  standard  of  wages.  Now,  I  am  opposed  to 
all  this  policy.  If  his  argument  is  good  for  one 
kind  of  labor,  it  is  for  all — so  that  the  result 
is,  in  the  end,  all  labor  must  come  to  the  standard 
of  slave  labor,  if  the  principles  of  the  gentleman's 
argument  are  maintained.  As  i  stated  before,  it 
is  the  combination  of  the  3lave  labor  of  the  South 
with  the  cheap  labor  of  Europe  to  break  down 
the  free  labor  of  the  North:  and  there  is  a  strong 
effort  now  making,  under  the  garb  of  free  trade, 
to  accomplish  that  object. 

The  producer  is  as  much  interested  in  thi3 
question  as  the  laborer.  There  is  not  a  flourish¬ 
ing  agricultural  population  on  the  globe,  that  has 
not  a  good  market  at  home — that  is  not  surround¬ 
ed  by  marts  of  commerce  built  up  by  substantial 
manufacturing  pursuits.  Look  at  the  countries 
of  Europe  that  are  the  dependencies  of  other 
countries  for  their  supplies.  Respectable  civiliza¬ 
tion  even  is  hardly  maintained  in  these  countries. 
Look  at  our  own  Southern  States,  where  the 
loom  and  the  spindle,  the  moulder's  sand  and  the 
turner’s  lathe,  are  hardly  known.  How  do  they 
prosper  there,  as  compared  with  ourselves,  or  any 
manufacturing  nation?  A  domestic  market  is  of 
all  things  what  the  farmer  wants.  Foreign  mar¬ 
kets  are  but  incidental  and  uncertain;  they  only 
take  when  they  cannot  avoid  it,  and  they  never 
take  anything  but  that  part  of  the  farmer  s  crop 
that  will  bear  distant  transportation.  Domestic 
manufactures,  to  use  a  common  expression,  take 
the  long  and  the  3hort  sauce— everything  that  is 
raised  or  grown.  Who  ships  hay,  oats,  potatoes, 
fruits,  vegetables,  poultry,  timber,  wood,  coal,  and 
a  hundred  other  things  we  produce,  to  Europe  ? 
No  one.  The  producer  must  have  a  market  at 
home  for  these  things,  or  none  at  all.  The  manu¬ 
facturing  towns  of  England  are  the  great  fountains 


9 


.  of  her  wealth.  Strike  down  her  factories,  and  you 
will  strike  down  prosprity.  But  there  is  no  end  to 
the  elaboration  of  this  subject,  and  I  must  leave 
it  with  the  single  request  that  the  American  peo¬ 
ple  will  consider  whether  we  had  better  enjoy  our 
own  markets,  and  supply  our  own  wants,  or  sur¬ 
render  the  first,  and  deptnd  on  Europe  for  the 
last. 

INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

The  Whig  party  has  at  all  times  been  the  fast 
friend  of  the  improvement  of  our  rivers  and  har¬ 
bors — at  all  times  sustained  that  great  measure  as 
essential  to  the  safety,  success,  and  promotion  of 
commerce.  As  this  power  is  expressly  given  by 
the  Constitution,  the  destruction  of  life  and  prop¬ 
erty  upon  our  Western  lakes  and  rivers,  occa¬ 
sioned  by  the  want  of  good  navigation  and  con¬ 
venient  harbors,  may  well  be  charged  to  the  per¬ 
verse  and  obstinate  opposition  of  the  party  that 
h  is  opposed  the  performance  of  this  national  obli¬ 
gation.  If  in  the  last  fifteen  years  a  thousand 
lives  have  been  sacrificed,  and  nearly  twenty  mil¬ 
lions  of  property  lost,  on  our  Western  rivers,  as 
the  facts  clearly  prove,  it  is  largely  to  that  party 
and  its  evil  counsels  it  may  be  justly  attributed 
On  the  success  of  the  Whig  party  hangs  the 
question  whether  sacrifices  hereafter  to  the  fear¬ 
ful  extent  they  have  reached  heretofore,  shall  be 
euffered  by  our  citizens. 

PLATFORMS 

I  wish  now  to  s  iy  a  few  words  on  the  subject  of 
platforms  I  do  not  deny  the  right  of  gentlemen 
who  get  together  in  convention  to  pass  such  reso- 
lutio-  s  as  they  can  agree  upon.  Any  body  of 
men  has  this  right,  but  the  wisdom  of  its  exercise 
is  quite  another  thing.  "What  effect  it  has.  or 
ought  to  have,  on  the  opinions  and  judgments 
of  men  is  altogether  another  matter.  Two  men 
can  hardly  be  found  who  agree  in  all  thing3,  and 
no  body  of  men  cm  block  out  doctrine  in  politics, 
morals,  or  religion,  for  the  great  mass  of  the  peo¬ 
ple.  There  is  a  radical  difference  of  opinion 
among  men  of  the  sime  party  on  some  subjects: 
such  opinions  cannot  be  changed  by  platforms. 
Maty  men  believe  it  the  duty  of  Congress  to  pre¬ 
vent  the  further  extension  of  slavery.  This,  in 
common  with  a  vast  majority  of  the  North.  I  be¬ 
lieve.  while  the  South  holds  Congress  has  nothing 
tc  do  with  that  subject.  Is  any  man  so  utterly 
demented  as  to  suppose  the  consciences  of  men, 
on  this  great  question,  are  to  be  controlled  by  res¬ 
olutions?  If  there  is  any  such  man.  he  is  too 
weak  to  guide — he  should  listen  to  others,  and 
not  attempt  to  teach.  The  fact  is.  the  American 
people  think  for  themselves,  and  do  not  permit 
others  to  think  for  them  ;  they  are  for  or  against 
a  measure  because  their  judgments  make  them  so, 
and  not  because  some  convention  says  it  is,  or  is 
not.  the  doctrine  of  a  party  The  doctrines  of  a 
party  are  made  known  by  its  practices,  the  meas¬ 
ures  it  supports  and  opposes,  and  not  by  the  cau¬ 
cus  resolutions  of  men  who  assume  to  3ay  what  its 
doctrines  shall  be.  Men  come  together  in  parties 
for  common  purposes  that  they  can  agree  upon ; 
not  that  every  man.  or  even  a  majority,  are  ex¬ 
pected  to  agree  on  every  subject  that  may  be 
brought  within  the  range  of  politics  While  the 


North  and  the  South  entirely  disagree  on  the  sub¬ 
ject  of  slavery,  Northern  and  Southern  Whigs 
most  thoroughly  agree  on  the  leading  politic il 
questions  in  which  the  whole  country  has  an  in¬ 
terest.  To  expect  them  to  agree  on  this  question 
of  sectional  difference  is  as  idle  as  to  suppose  all 
men  will  see  all  points  of  Christian  belief  in  the 
same  light.  You  might  as  well  ask  Northern 
men  to  surrender  their  belief  in  a  God.  as  to  give 
up  their  opinions  in  relation  to  African  slavery. 
Conventions  have  no  power  on  this  subject.  All 
men  have  a  living  faith  upon  it,  (not  made  by  pol¬ 
itics.)  with  its  foundations  resting  on  the  eternal 
‘  principles  of  right  and  wrong,  guided  by  the  com¬ 
mands  of  the  Almighty  to  ‘  love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself/7  and  to  “do  unto  others  as  you  would 
others  should  do  unto  you.77 

Resolutions  on  such  a  subject  have  the  slightest 
effect  on  the  nominee  of  the  Whig  party.  Gen 
Scott,  like  other  men,  has  a  conscientious  belief  in 
relation  to  this  question  of  human  rights,  that  can¬ 
not  be  shaken  by  the  paper  proclamations  of  a  set  of 
delegates,  consisting  of  one  in  a  hundred  thousand 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States  I  leave  it  to  the 
good  sense  of  all  enlightened,  patriotic  mfn,  to  say. 
judging  from  his  past  life,  the  history  of  his  acts,  hia 
writings  and  present  position,  the  action  of  the  dif¬ 
ferent  sections  of  the  Union  towards  him,  what 
that  conscientious  belief  is.  He  has  had  nothing 
to  do  with  platforms,  is  in  no  way  responsible  for 
them,  and  in  voting  for  him  no  man  votes  for  or 
against  a  platform,  but  for  him.  with  his  past  his¬ 
tory.  his  opinions,  his  associations,  and  his  life  be¬ 
fore  him ;  and  upon  the  pledge  of  that  life,  as  a 
security  for  the  support  of  sound  principles,  aa 
stated  in  his  letter  of  acceptance,  viz  : 

“With  a  sincere  And  earnest  purpose  to  ad¬ 
vance  the  greatness  and  happiness  of  the  Repub¬ 
lic,  and  thus  to  cherish  and  encourage  the  cause 
of  constitutional  liberty  throughout  the  world, 
avoiding  every  act  and  thought  that  might  in¬ 
volve  our  country  in  an  unjust  or  unnecessary 
war,  or  impair  the  faith  of  treaties,  and  discoun¬ 
tenancing  all  political  agitation  injurious  to  the 
interests  of  society  and  dangerous  to  the  Union, 
I  can  effer  no  other  pledge  or  guarantee  than  the 
known  incidents  of  a  long  public  life,  now  undergoing 
the  severest  examination ,77 

I  doubt  not  the  whole  country  will  take  this 
pledge.  It  is  the  only  pledge  a  high  and  honora¬ 
ble  man  can  or  ought  to  give,  as  a  candidate  for 
President  of  the  United  States ;  it  is,  in  fact,  the 
only  guarantee  worth  regarding.  And  because  a 
platform  was  “  annexed 77  to  his  nomination,  it  does 
not  change  that  noble  life,  so  loDg  devoted  to  the 
highest  interests  of  the  country,  to  progress,  to 
the  great  principles  of  American  liberty,  to  the 
preservation  and  glory  of  the  Union.  There  it 
stands ;  the  whole  world  has  read  its  history  in 
the  immortal  events  of  the  past.  Let  the  Ameri¬ 
can  people  examine  it;  its  lines  may  be  traced  on 
every  page  of  our  country7s  records  for  forty 
years;  it  is  written  in  war  and  in  peace — in  the 
blood  of  battles  and  in  the  Christian  s  faith. 

GROUNDS  OF  SOUTHERN  OPPOSITION  TO  GEN.  SCOTT. 

I  make  a  few  extracts  from  Southern  speeches 
and  manifestoes,  to  show  to  the  people  of  try  sec- 


10 


tien  of  the  Union  the  ground  of  opposition  to  Gen. 
Scott  by  the  supporters  of  the  slave  power.  1 
quote  from  the  speech  of  Mr.  Toombs,  of  Georgia, 
made  in  Congress  since  the  nomination  : 

“The  Free  Soil  Whigs  of  the  North  have  com¬ 
plete  control  of  the  Whig  organization  in  all  the 
non-slaveholding  States,  and  Scott’s  success  will 
be  their  triumph,  and  a  triumph  fatal  to  the  prin¬ 
ciples  of  the  Union  Whigs,  both  North  and  South. 

*  *  *  At  the  opening  of  this  session  it  was 

announced  to  the  country  that  a  Whig  Congres¬ 
sional  caucus  had  endorsed  the  compromise.  It 
was  very  soon  ascertained,  though,  that  no  friend 
of  General  Scott  could  be  found  among  its  sup¬ 
porters.  *  *  *  General  Scott  has  not  done 

it.  He  has  not  declared  his  approbation  of  these 
principles  in  any  part  of  this  letter.  *  *  *  I 
did  not  intend  to  support  General  Scott  in  any 
event.  *  *  *  General  Scott  would  nave  acted 
wisely  and  well  not  to  have  invited  scrutiny  into 
his  past,  opinions  on  slavery.  There  are  no  known 
incidents  in  that  life  which  commends  itself  upon 
these  great  questions  to  the  approbation  of  a 
Southern  man.” 

The  following  quotations  are  from  the  speech 
of  Mr.  Faulkner,  of  Virginia,  made  in  Congress, 
August  2d : 

“Again,  s.ir,  during  all  this  period,  from  the 
passage  of  the  compromise  acts  in  the  month  of 
September,  1850,  where  was  Winfield  Scott? 

*  *  *  The  exclusive  Northern  and  sectional 

vote  which  be  received  in  the  several  Whig  Con¬ 
ventions  of  1840,  ’44,  and  ’48,  manifested  very 
distinctly  that  there  wag  a  large  class  of  persons 
in  that  section  upon  whose  conduct  his  opinions 
would  have  fallen  with  influence  and  power.  * 

*  *  Amidst  all  the  letters  which  were  written 

to  the  numerous  Union  meetings  of  the  North, 
by  public  men  who  were  unable  personally  to 
attend,  we  look  in  vain  for  one  single  line  from 
that  distinguished  source.  '■*  *  * 

“But  General  Scott  did  not  merely  sin  by  his 
refusal  to  answer — he  sinned  to  a  much  deeper 
extern  by  the  direct  countenance  which  his  si¬ 
lence  and  acquiescence  gave  to  those  who  arrayed 
themselves  in  hostility  to  the  compromise  pol¬ 
icy. 

“  And  this  leads  me  to  advert  to  some  incidents 
in  the  proceedings  of  the  two  great  parties  of  the 
country  in  the  States  of  New  York.  Pennsylvania, 
and  Ohio.  *  *  * 

“The  Whigs  of  New  York  passed  the  most 
marked  resolution,  tendering  the  warmest  thanks 
of  the  Convention  to  William  H  Seward  distin¬ 
guished  as  the  course  of  that  gentleman  eminently 
was  by  hostility  to  the  compromise,  and  more  es¬ 
pecially  to  the  fugitive  slave  law. 

“The  National  Whig  Convention  assembled  in 
Baltimore  on  the  16th  of  June,  exhibiting  before 
the  country  a  sectional  division  in  its  ranks  upon 
a  great,  momentous,  and  practical  question,  with¬ 
out  precedent  in  party  annals.  The  Northern 
Whigs,  who  had  never,  upon  any  previous  occa¬ 
sion,  recognised  the  justice  and  obligatory  force 
of  the  fugitive  slave  law,  presented  the  name  of 
Winfield  Scott  for  the  Presidency. 

“  A  portion  of  the  friends  of  General  Scott,  per¬ 


ceiving  that  the  resolutions  must  pass,  and  sati6-  , 
fled  that  all  opposition  to  them  was  vain,  made  a 
virtue  of  necessity,  and  concurred  in  their  adop¬ 
tion. 

“The  platform  adopted  may  be  used  as  a  pre¬ 
text  to  satisfy  some,  but  in  my  judgment  the  case 
presented  is  not  materially  variant  from  the  fail¬ 
ure  to  adopt  any  platform  at  all. 

“  Will  a  vote  for  General  Scott  imply  an  appro¬ 
val  of  that  policy?  Will  he,  if  the  enemies  of 
the  South  and  of  the  Constitution  should  accom¬ 
plish  a  repeal  of  that  law,  interpose  his  veto?' 
We  are  told  by  those  upon  this  floor  who  profess 
to  know  and  speak  his  sentiments,  that  he  would 
not.  in  such  a  case,  interpose  his  veto. 

“It  is,  then,  manifest  that,  with  my  views  of 
General  Scott’s  position  in  tbe  present  canvass, 
he  cannot  receive  my  support.” 

The  language  of  these  quotations  speaks  for  it¬ 
self.  It  fixes  the  ground  of  opposition  to  General 
Scott  in  the  South.  As  is  said  by  Mr.  Toombs, 
“there  are  no  known  incidents  in  that  life  which 
commends  itself  upon  these  great  questions  to 
the  approbation  of  Southern  men.” 

THE  CANDIDATES. 

I  now  proceed  to  speak  of  what  is  of  far  more 
importance  than  platforms — of  the  Presidential 
candidates,  and  of  their  claims  for  support. 

The  so-called  Democratic  party  have  gone  tc 
the  only  spot  in  this  land  of  religious  toleration, 
to  the  only  State  where  the  liberty  of  conscience  is 
abridged  and  Christian  faith  proscribed,  for  a  can¬ 
didate,  for  a  man  to  put  at  the  head  of  a  free 
Government;  and  thus  to  transfer  the  intolerance 
of  religious  persecution  to  the  councils  of  the  na¬ 
tion. 

“  How  are  the  mighty  fallen  !  ” 

The  tried,  the  known,  the  experienced,  the  emi¬ 
nent  in  all  that  distinguishes  man,  trodden  under 
foot,  blotted  from  the  lists  of  Democratic  favor, 
to  bring  from  out  the  dark  loins  of  the  land  of 
bigoted  superstition — where  to  worship  God  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  dictates  of  conscience  is  the  mark 
of  Cain  upon  the  worshipper,  that  crushes  him 
to  earth  and  holds  out  to  him  the  poisoned 
chalice  of  damning  prejudice — a  party  leader 
to  mould  popular  opinion  throughout  the  nation! 
How  strange  this  choice — how  repugnant  to  ev¬ 
ery  principle  of  American  liberty  !  Lewis  Cass, 
the  free  Representative  of  a  free  State  and  a 
free  religion,  has  the  iron  heel  of  destiny 
stamped  upon  his  long  career.  James  Buchanan, 
surrounded  by  the  descendants  of  the  follow¬ 
ers  of  Penn,  and  his  free,  his  generous  faith, 
is  brought  a  sacrifice  to  the  altar.  Governor 
Marcy  is  declared  an  outcast,  and  if  the  plot 
succeeds  will  be  kept  an  outcast,  for  his  too  free 
association  with  those  who  once  declared  for 
“free  soil,  free  speech,  and  free  men.”  Then, 
there  is  Young  America,  the  chosen  champion  of 
progress,  of  the  young,  the  energetic,  the  hopeful, 
the  progressive  masses.  Where  is  he?  Alas! 
he,  too,  is  among  the  slain.  His  laurels  droop — 
his  banner,  raised  on  the  great  plains  of  the  migh¬ 
ty  West,  trails  in  the  dust  before  thi3  oracle  of 
the  New  Hampshire  test. 

Locking  at  this  army  of  martyred  leaders,  we 


11 


are  naturally  led  to  inquire,  what  has  this  valiant 
eon  of  the  New  Hampshire  Line — where  for 
seventy  years  they  have  kept  one  religion  in,  and 
persecuted  one  religion  out — done?  With  what 
great  or  saiall  measure  has  he  been  connected,  in 
the  past  history  of  the  country,  that  he  should  be 
made  the  instrument  of  so  much  wrong  to  others, 
to  secure  so  much  glory  to  himself? 

he  has  always  acted  with  the  supporters  of 

THE  TEST. 

I  propose  to  show  some  of  the  principal  features 
in  his  career.  He  has  stood,  for  his  whole  life, 
silently  by,  and  seen  every  citizen  of  New  Hamp¬ 
shire,  who  loved  the  liberty  of  conscience  and  the 
worship  of  God  according  to  its  dictates,  more 
than  place  or  power,  proscribed,  made  an  out¬ 
cast,  deprived  of  the  equal  rights  of  an  American 
citizen  :  held  unworthy  of  any  place,  office,  or 
station.  He  has  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  with 
that  party  in  New  Hampshire  that  has  had  the 
whole  power  of  that  State  in  its  hands  for  a  quar¬ 
ter  of  a  century,  and  that  has  sustained  this  odious, 
this  unchristian,  this  accursed  principle  to  the 
last. 

Of  the  Convention  of  1791,  that  framed  the 
Constitution  still  in  force  in  New  Hampshire, 
Benjamin  Pierce,  the  father  of  Franklin  Pierce, 
was  a  member,  and  voted  for  the  test  in  these 
words : 

{Extract  from  the  Constitution.) 

Form  of  Government. — Section  14.  “Every 
member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  *  *  * 
shall  be  of  the  Protestant  religion,  and  shall  cease 
to  represent  such  town,  parish,  or  place,  imme¬ 
diately  on  ceasiDg  to  be  qualified  as  aforesaid.” 

Section  29.  “Provided,  nevertheless,  that  no 
person  shall  be  capable  of  being  elected  a  Senator 
who  is  not  of  the  Protestant  religion.” 

Section  42.  “The  Governor  *  *  *  shall  be  of 
the  Protestant  religion.” 

Section  61.  “And  the  qualification  for  Coun¬ 
sellors  shall  be  the  same  as  for  Senator.” 

In  1850  the  people  voted  whether  a  Convention 
should  be  called  to  frame  a  new  Constitution.  It 
will  be  seen  how  the  Pierce  party  voted.  Here 
is  the  vote  of  several  of  the  towns  : 

WHIG  TOWNS. 

On  Convention.  '  On  Cover  nor.  * 


Dover,  -  -  - 

Yeas. 

447 

Nays. 

98 

Whig. 

619 

Loco. 

504 

Somersworth,  - 
Keene.  -  -  - 

i 

201 

59 

361 

186 

281 

64 

319 

199 

North  woe  d 

LOCOFOCO  TOWNS. 

64  132 

30  • 

157 

Nottingham  - 

54 

132 

17 

134 

Albany  -  - 

7 

84 

16 

57 

Brookfield  -  - 

16 

90 

9 

58 

Stafford  -  - 

3 

183 

147 

271 

Warner  -  - 

67 

168 

26 

320 

Ellsworth  -  - 

7 

60 

6 

49 

But  the  Whigs  and  Free  Soil  Democrats  voted 
for  the  Convention,  and  it  was  carried.  The  Con¬ 
vention  met,  framed  a  Constitution,  and  struck 
out  the  test.  The  Constitution  was  submitted  to 
the  people  in  March,  1851.  and  the  8th  question 


voted  on  was  as  to  the  repeal  of  the  test.  Here 
follows  the  vote  of  the  Pierce  party  in  many  of 
the  leading  towns,  set  forth  in  detail,  and  iri  the 
whole  State,  in  the  aggregate,  on  the  question, 
and  for  the  Pierce  candidate  for  Governor.  See 


the  difference. 

It 

shows 

where  the 

opposition 

comes  from  : 

Brentwood 

For  Dinsmore, 
Loco  Pierce 
Candidate. 

76 

For  Catho 
lie  Eman¬ 
cipation.' 
11 

Seabrook  - 

- 

• 

85 

12 

Windham 

- 

- 

46 

7 

Durham  - ' 

- 

- 

155 

8 

Farmington 

- 

- 

204 

11 

New  Durham 

- 

- 

113 

4 

Stafford  - 

- 

- 

244 

12 

Chatham  - 

- 

• 

82 

7 

EffiDgham 

- 

- 

129 

1 

Ossipee 

- 

- 

194 

12 

Sandwich 

- 

- 

113 

6 

Wakefield 

- 

- 

176 

1 

Wolfborough 

- 

- 

279 

11 

Loudon 

- 

- 

120 

12 

Alexandria 

- 

- 

134 

12 

Ellsworth 

• 

. 

59 

1 

Hill 

- 

130 

11 

Holderness 

- 

. 

153 

9 

Milan 

- 

• 

64 

6 

The  vote  in  the  whole  State  was,  for  Dinsmore, 
(Pierce’s  candidate)  ...  24,425 

For  Sawyer,  (Whig)  -  -  -  18  458 

For  Atwood,  (Free  Soil)  ...  12,049 

Atwood  had  been  the  regularly  nominated  Loco- 
foco  candidate. 

The  vote  on  the  Constitution  was  : 

For  Catholic  Emancipation  -  -  13,575 

Against  it .  24  971 

So  it  will  be  seen  that  the  opposition  to  Catho¬ 
lic  emancipation  was  almost  the  precise  vote  given 
for  the  Pierce  candidate  for  Governor. 

In  1852,  the  same  question  of  religious  liberty 
was  again  submitted  to  the  people,  and  the  Pierce 
party  voted  as  follows: 

The  Vote  by  Counties  on  Governor ,  and  also  on  strik¬ 
ing  out  the  Anti- Catholic  Test  in  the  Constitution , 
in  March ,  185*2. 


FOR  GOVERNOR.  FOR  CATH.  EMANCIPATION. 


Martin 

(Pierce  Can,) 

Yeas. 

Nays. 

Rockingham  - 

4,669 

1,374 

1.856 

Strafford 

2.381 

764 

852 

Belknap 

2.155 

323 

1,037 

Carroll  - 

2,239 

257 

1,101 

Merrimack 

4  614 

1,163 

2.455 

Hillsborough  - 

4  550 

1,451 

1.300 

Cheshire 

2,338 

1,322 

716 

Sullivan 

2.074 

1,030 

660 

Grafton  / 

4.404 

1317 

1,758 

Coos 

1.575 

559 

»  357 

Total 

30  999 

i 

9.566 

12,092 

Here  the  Pierce  candidate  got  30  999  votes,  and 
Catholic  emancipation  9/(66 — the  Whigs  voting 
for  emancipation, and  the  Pierce  party  against  it, 
or  refusing  to  vote  at  all.  In  31  towns,  where  the 
Pierce  candidate  for  Governor  received  4,797 
votes,  emancipation  received  but  340.  In  14  of 
these  towns,  there  were  but  317  Whig  votes  al- 


12 


tog-ether,  jast  about  the  number  for  emancipation. 
In  19  Whig  town3,  giving  4,135  votes,  there -were 
but  791  vote3  against  emancipation,  a  little  les3 
than  the  Pierce  vote. 

As  the  supporters  of  Mr.  Pierce  have  very  un¬ 
necessarily  drawn  the  name  of  hi3  father  into  the 
canvass,  I  will  make  one  extract  from  his  history. 
This  extract,  like  the  foregoing,  is  from  an  au¬ 
thentic  source : 

ALIEN  AND  SEDITION  LAWS: 

June  14,  1799,  a  series  of  resolutions  in  favo *  of 
the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws  were  introduced  into 
the  New  Hampshire  Legislature.  One  cf  them 
was  in  these  words: 

“That  if  the  Legislature  of  New  Hampshire, 
for  mere  speculative  purposes,  were  to  express  an 
opinion  on  the  act3  of  the  General  Government, 
commonly  called ‘the  Alien  and  Sedition  Bills,’ 
that  opinion  would  necessarily  he  that  these  acts 
were  constitutional ,  and.  in  the  present  situation  of  our 
country,  highly  expedient 

The  father  of  Franklin  Pierce  was  a  member 
of  the  Legislature,  and  voted  for  these  resolutions. 
So  that  the  “test”  candidate  comes  by  his  oppo¬ 
sition  to  foreigners  in  the  natural  way. 

Gen.  Pierce  has  assented  to  all  these  acts  of  his 
party,  as  these  evidences  clearly  show.  He  has 
voted  for  and  continues  to  vote  for  men.  for  ev¬ 
ery  kind  of  office,  who  have  at  all  times  acted  for, 

’  voted  for,  and  sustained  the  proscription  and  the 
proscribers  of  Catholics  in  New  Hampshire; 
been  in  constant  consultation  and  alliance  with 
men  who,  by  every  word  and  deed  of  their  lives, 
have  said  Catholics  are  unworthy  of  taking  part 
in  the  administration  of  public  affairs.  Where 
he  has  lived  the  nnjority  has  been  overwhelm¬ 
ingly  in  favor  of  religious  bigotry.  Has  he  ever 
abandoned  such  a  party,  and  tried  to  put  it  down  ? 
Never.  He  has  frequently  been  its  candidate, 
and  a  common  partner  of  its  wrongs ;  he  has 
eaten  of  its  fruits  with  his  confederates  in  power, 
from  boyhood  to  old  age.  This  is  the  man, this  is 
his  history,  and  these  are  his  associations,  who 
has  been  chosen  by  the  Democratic  party  as  its 
guide,  as  the  representative  of  its  faith.  Let  the 
country  take  warning  at  this  first  great  apostacy 
from  that  religious  freedom  that  makes  us  free. 

Is  there  an  abasement  to  which  a  once  triumph¬ 
ant  party  can  fall  lower  than  this  ?  What  would 
be  thought  of  a  politician  who  should,  tnrough 
his  whole  life,  sustain  and  vote  for  a  party  that 
proscribed  Methodists,  Baptists,  Presbyterians, 
and  hold  that  none  but  the  rich  should  vote; 
who  had  combined  for  thirty  years  with  those 
who  exclude  all  such  men  from  public  affairs. 
Would  such  a  man  be  sustained  by  any  than  who 
loved  liberty  and  the  rights  of  conscience?  I  think 
not.  Still,  this  is  just  what  Mr.  Pierce  and  his  party 
havebeen  doing  against  Catholics,  and  continue  to 
do  to  this  day.  The  shallow  pretence  that  his 
opinions  are  one  way,  while  he  acts  another,  is 
too  contemptible  to  merit  consideration.  Men  are 
known  ly  their  works ,  and  not  by  their  words.  Thir¬ 
ty  years’  support  of  a  party  that  has  continued  in 
full  power  in  the  State  where  Mr.  Pierce  resides, 
and  that  has  sustained  this  outrage  upon  the  rights 
of  a  part  of  its  citizens,  speaks  louder  than  the  cant 


and  hypocrisy  of  newspaper  and  political  hacks 
on  the  eve  of  election.  These  are  acts  of  persecu¬ 
tion  under  which  men  Live  lived  and  died  in  New 
Hampshire,  and  they  cannot  be  effaced,  so  long 
as  this  crying  injustice  remains  in  the  Constitu¬ 
tion  that  Franklin  Pierce,  and  every  officer  of  his 
State ,  swears  to  support  and  maintain.  But  I 
must  leave  this  subject:  its  whole  history  is  offen¬ 
sive  to  every  true  American  heart  ;  it  is  a  libel 
upon  our  Pilgrim  history,  a  blot  upon  our  nation¬ 
al  character.  Now  that  an  opportunity  is  fairly 
given,  let  it  be  rebuked  by  the  voice  of  the  Amer¬ 
ican  people,  and  political  pirties  taught  to  avoid 
it  as  the  leprosy  of  death ;  its  sting  is  fatal  to 
freedom — let  no  man  spread  the  contagion. 

national  politics. 

I  now  come  to  the  course  of  this  New  Hamp¬ 
shire  hero  as  a  National  politician  ;  and  what  is 
this  history?  I  will  give  his  votes,  and  nothing 
more,  for  that  is  all  there  is  to  sive. 

AGAINST  THE  RIGHT  OF  PETITION. 

Mr.  Pierce  entered  Congress  in  1833.  In 
1S35,  Feb.  2,  he  voted  to  lay  on  the  table  several 
petitions  presented  by  Mr.  Dickson,  praying  for 
the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  in  the 
District  of  Columbia. 

1835,  Dec.  16.  He  give  a  like  vote  to  lay  on 
the  table  a  like  petition  presented  by  Mr.  Fair- 
field.  He  voted  to  iay  the  motion  to  present  the 
same  petition  on  the  table. 

1835.  Dec.  18.  On  the  presentation  of  a  simi¬ 
lar  petition  by  Mr.  Jackson,  a  debate  sprung  up, 
in  which  the  enemies  of  the  right  of  petition  tried 
to  get  a  direct  vote  so  a3  to  reject  the  prayer  of 
the  petition  without  a  hearing.  Mr.  Beardsley 
moved  to  lay  it  on  the  table.  Mr.  Mason,  of  Vir¬ 
ginia.  hoped  he  would  modify  his  motion  so  that 
“they  could  have  a  direct  vote  on  rejecting  the 
petition,”  when  Mr.  Pierce  took  part  against 
the  right  of  petition,  and  said — 

“  Franklin  Pierce  hoped  tbe  motion  to  recon¬ 
sider  would  be  withdrawn,  and  that  Mr.  Beards¬ 
ley  would  so  far  modify  his  motion  as  to  meet  the 
approbation  of  all  who  are  most  sensitive  upon 
this  agitating  question ;  and  he  rose  to  add  his 
request  to  the  suggestion  made  by  his  friend  from 
Virginia,  [Mr.  Mason  ]  He  was  anxious  for  a 
direct  vote  upon  the  question  ;  he  could  not  bear 
that  any  imputation  should  rest  upon  the  North 
in  consequence  of  the  misguided  and  fanatical  zeal 
of  a  few — comparatively  few,”  &c. 

As  before,  he  voted  to  lay  this  petition  on  the 
table. 

1835,  Dec.  21.  Mr.  Pierce  voted  to  suspend 
the  rules  to  enable  Mr.  Owen  to  offer  the  follow¬ 
ing  resolutions : 

“  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  House,  the  ques¬ 
tion  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District 
of  Columbia  ought  not  to  be  entertained  by  Con¬ 
gress: 

“  That  in  case  any  petition  praying  the  abo¬ 
lition  of  Slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  be 
hereafter  presented,  it  is  the  deliberate  opinion  of 
this  House  that  the  same  ought  to  be  laid  upon 
the  table  without  reading.” 

These  resolutions  were  introduced  to  absolutely 


cat  off  the  right  of  petition  and  ptifle  all  debate 
on  the  subject  of  slavery.  Mr.  Pierce  was  for 
their  passage. 

1835.  May  18.  Mr.  Pickering,  from  a  Select 
Committee,  introduced  the  following  resolution: 

u  Resolved,  That  all  petitions,  memorials,  reso¬ 
lutions,  propositions,  or  papers,  relating  in  any 
way,  or  to  any  extent  whatsoever,  to  the  subject 
of  slavery  or  the  abolition  of  slavery,  shall, 
without  being  either  printed  or  referred,  be  laid 
upon  the  table,  and  that  no  further  action  shall  be 
had  thereon.” — Gales  Seaton's  Register,  Vol.  xii, 
Part  3 ,p  3,758. 

Mr.  Pierce  voted  for  this  resolution.  This 
was  the  first  gag  passed  by  Congress  against  the 
right  of  petition,  and  with  Franklin  Pierce’s 
vote  in  its  favor.  He  voted,  in  numerous  in¬ 
stances,  on  other  occasions,  in  the  same  way,  du¬ 
ring  that  Congress.  But  I  have  shown  enough  of 
his  course  to  show  his  alliance  and  his  principles. 
A  continuation  of  the  same  course  can  he  found 
in  every  vote  he  gave  on  this  subject. 

During  the  next  session,  Mr.  Pierce  voted  for 
the  following  resolution,  introduced  by  Mr. 
Thompson,  of  Sout  h  Carolina : 

u  Resolved,  That  slaves  do  not  possess  the  right 
of  petition  secured  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States  by  the  Constitution.” 

SENATOR. 

In  1837.  Mr.  Pierce  became  a  member  of  the 
Senate.  December  18,  Mr.  Wall  presented  a  pe¬ 
tition  on  the  subject  of  elavery. 

Mr.  Pierce  said  u  hi  would  be  prepared  to  act  upon 
them  without  delay ,  to  reject  the  prayer  of  the  peti¬ 
tions,  to  lay  them  upon  the  table,  or  give  them  any 
other  direction  that  might  be  thought  best  calculattd 
to  silence  the  agitators 

1837,  December  27.  Mr.  Calhoun  brought  in 
resolutions  on  the  subject  of  slavery  in  the  Terri¬ 
tories,  District  of  Columbia,  &c.,  avowedly  to  ab¬ 
solutely  suppress  the  discussion  of  all  questions  of 
Blavery.  Mr.  Pierce  voted  for  them  all,  and 
against  all  amendments.  Against  Mr.  Morris’s 
amendment,  to  9trike  out  of  the  second  resolution 
the  words  i£  moral  and  religious ,”  so  as  to  ex¬ 
empt  from  denunciation  the  religious  discussion 
of  slavery ,  etrange  to  say,  Mr.  Pierce  voted 
against  such  an  amendment.  Mr.  Clay  even,  a 
slaveholder,  thought  the  resolutions  unjust,  and 
moved  to  amend,  so  as  to  leave  out  “  that  attempts 
to  bring  about  the  abolition  of  slavery  here  were 
a  direct  and  dangerous  attack  upon  the  institu¬ 
tions  of  all  the  slaveholding  States,”  and  so  as  to 
recognise  the  right  of  petition,  but  Mr.  Pierce 
voted  against  that  also  * 

1838,  January  9.  Resolutions  of  the  State  of 
Vermont,  against  the  Atherton  gig,  and  against 
s’avery  in  this  District,  were  presented.  Mr. 
Pierce  vot<d  to  lay  them  all  on  the  table,  and 
against  their  being  printed.  He  voted  agiinst 
Mr.  Morris,  of  Ohio,  having  the  right  to  speak  on 

*  For  a  full  report  of  the  proceedings  on  these 
resolutions,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  Congressional 
Globe  and  Appendix.  25th  Congress,  second  session, 
vol.  vi,  from  p.  55  to  p.  80  of  the  Globe,  and  p.  59  to 
p.  108  of  the  Appendix. 


resolutions  in  relation  to  slavery  in  the  Territo¬ 
ries,  though  a  slaveholder  had  been  allowed  to 
speak  the  day  before  on  the  other  side. 

If  a  darker  record  than  this  can  be  found,  I  am 
at  a  Ios6  to  know  where  to  look  for  it. 

While  in  Congress,  he  uniformly  voted  against 
all  river  and  harbor  improvements.  He  is  in  fact 
a  most  violent  opposer  of  such  improvements,  and 
so  are  bis  political  associates  in  New  Hampshiie. 
That  State  has  but  a  limited  seaboard,  and  he 
seems  to  measure  everything  by  a  New  Hamp¬ 
shire  standard.  The  Pierce  representatives  of 
that  State  voted  this  very  year  against  the  river 
and  harbor  bill  now  before  Congress.  While  our 
mariners’  lives  were  sacrified  and  the  property  of 
our  countrymen  was  lest,  he  looked  coldly  on,  and 
voted  on  all  Decisions  against  the  smallest  appro¬ 
priations  for  their  security  and  protection  The 
vast-  West  was  nothing  to  him:  the  millions  of 
the  products  of  the  farmers  sunk  every  year  could 
not  move  him.  He  could  spend  time  on  Atherton 
gags,  and  iu  passing  resolutions  to  deprive  Ameri¬ 
can  citizens  of  the  right  of  petition  for  a  redress 
of  grievances.  He  could  spurn  their  complaints, 
as  the  Throne  of  England  spurned  the  compl  .ints 
of  the  Colonies ;  but  he  could  do  nothing  to  guard 
life  and  property  from  loss  and  destruction.  If 
he  should  be  elected,  which,  thanks  to  the  good 
sense  of  the  people,  there  is  little  prospect  of,  all 
this  great  interest  of  the  country  will  be  at  the 
mercy  of  the  waves  of  our  Western  lakes  and 
snags  of  our  Western  rivers. 

Gen.  Pierce  was  in  Congress  for  several  years, 
and  I  risk  little  in  saying  that  his  career  is 
marked  with  as  little  of  anything  of  value  to  the 
country  as  any  man’s  in  the  public  councils  for 
as  long  a  period.  I  will  venture  that  not  one 
voter  in  ten  in  the  United  States,  before 
his  nomination,  could  give  any  account  of  him 
whatever,  and,  except  for  his  opposition  to  free¬ 
dom  and  the  right  of  petition,  still  less  would 
know  that  he  was  ever  a  member  of  either  branch 
of  the  National  Legislature.  There  is  no  act,  no 
measure  of  legislation,  that  he  was  ever  so  con¬ 
nected  with  as  to  bring  his  name  iuto  public  con¬ 
sideration.  To  be  sure,  he  voted  against  the 
old  soldiers  of  the  Indian  wars,  who  defended 
the  pioneers  of  the  West — the  hardy  men.  who 
braved  the  dangers  of  an  Indian  frontier — and 
strove  to  prevent  their  having  pensions  for  their 
years  of  devotion  and  danger  in  the  public  ser¬ 
vice;  and  be  voted  and  acted  against  the  widow 
of  the  lamented  Harrison  having  the  pay  Congress 
awarded  for  the  services  of  her  husband,  placed 
by  the  people  at  the  head  of  the  Government. 
Fie  seems  to  have  voted  against  almost  everybody 
and  every  measure,  and  it  will  be  but  in  harmony 
with  his  own  course,  if,  in  November,  the  people 
vote  against  him. 

MILITARY  CAREER. 

But  I  must  pass  to  the  last  act  in  his  drama  of 
life,  his  unparalleled  military  career. 

He  was  appointed,  in  1847,  a  brigadier  general, 
by  Mr.  Pc^k,  and,  ns  appears  by  the  public  prints , 
went  to  Mexico — but  of  what  he  did,  or  how  he 
did  it,  unfortunately  there  little  record  remains. 
The  follow-Dg  are  extracts  from  the  published 


14 


accounts  of  this  important  part  of  hi3  extraordi¬ 
nary  life,  and,  as  will  be  seen,  partly  from  his  own 
hand : 

“  Was  General  Pierce  at  Contreras  on  the  20th 
of  August?  He  says,  in  his  own  report,  (see  mes¬ 
sage  and  documents  for  1847-’8,  page  105-6  : ) 

‘“At  one  o’clock  on  the  following  morning, 
(the  20th  August.)  Gen.  Twiggs  and  Capt.  Lee, 
&c,  came  to  my  bivouac,  with  orders  from  the 
General-in-Chief  to  assemble  all  the  forces,  &c. 
Being  myself  unable  to  keep  my  saddle  or  to  walk,  in. 
consequence  of  a  severe  injury  from  the  fall  of  my  horse 
the  day  before ,  the  command  of  the  foree  devolved  on 
Col  Ranscmj  fyc. 

“  Was  Gen.  Pierce  at  Churubusco  on  the  after¬ 
noon  of  the  20th  of  August? 

“  In  the  same  report  he  says : 

‘“It  was  my  misfortune,  as  before  stated,  to  re¬ 
ceive  a  serious  injury  from  the  fail  of  my  horse 
on  the  afternoon  of  the  19 :h.  Thi3  accident  ren¬ 
dered  me  unable  to  struggle  with  the  difficulties 
of  the  ground  over  which  we  were  obliged  to  p  iss, 
&c.,  and,  in  the  effort  to  do  so,  I  fell,  (faint  from 
exhaustion  and  pain  )  a  few  yards  from  the  severest 
fire  of  the  enemy’s  line.’ 

“  Gen.  Shields  iu  his  report  confirms  the  fact 
that  Pierce  was  not  with  his  brigade,  for  he  says  : 

“  '-Pierce’s  Brigade,  under  my  command  in  this  ac¬ 
tion. ,  lost  a  considerable  number  of  men’  (See 
Shields’s  report,  same  volume.) 

“Was  Gen.  Pierce  at  Molino  del  Rey,  on  the 
8th  September? 

“  What  does  Gen.  Scott’s  report  say  : 

‘“The  battle  was  won  just  as  Brig.  Geu.  Pierce 
reached  the  ground.’ 

“  What  does  Gsn.  Worth,  who  commanded  the 
forces  in  that  battle,  and  who,  from  necessity, 
must  be  the  best  witness,  say  ? 

“In  a  letter  to  Gen.  Scott,  December  27,  1847, 
(see  Executive  Document  No.  60,  1848,  page 
1,077  )  he  places  the  matter  beyond  dispute: 

“  ‘  1  have  to  assert  that  the  battle  had  been  won 
morp%  than  one  hour  before  Gen.  Pierce's  brigade  or  any 
other  support  reached  the  ground;  that  I  had  been 
nearly  that  length  of  time  engaged  in  collecting 
th<f  wounded  and  the  dead ;  that  Gen  Pierce’s 
brigade  did  not  approach  Ei  Moiiuo  to  replace 
Garland,  and  to  occupy  that  captured  work,  until 
two  hours  after  its  arrival,’  &c. 

“  Was  Gen  Pierce  at  Caapultepec.  or  the  Guri- 
tas.  on  the  30th  September? 

Gens.  Quitman  and  Smith  say,  in  their  reports, 
that  the  Mexican  authorities  informed  them,  at 
dawn  on  the  14th.  that  Santa  Anna  had  retired 
with  his  forces  from  the  city.  Gen.  Pierce  reached 
the  Garita  at  4  o’clock,  and  the  Mexican  authori¬ 
ties  surrendered  the  city  at  dawn.  Which  was 
the  first  there,  I  confess  1  cannot  decide! 

Here  are  his  glorious  military  achievements. 
Was  it  for  acts  like  these  he  was  nominated? 
America  has  had  no  such  hero  before  —  New 
Hampshire  is  entitled  to  all  the  honor  of  his  brave 
deeds.  He  seems,  according  to  these  extracts,  to 
have  been,  unfortunately,  too  sick,  or  too  faint ,  or  too 
late ,  in  every  engagement.  What  he  mightjfoave 
done,  had  he  been  earlier,  or  well, -or  not  fa;nt.  it  is 
impossible  to  tell.  Had  our  gallant  army  been  in 
the  command  of  such  a  leader,  what  would  it  not 


have  accomplished !  Is  not  such  a  chief  worthy 
to  be  rewarded  by  a  nation’s  gratitude? 

WHY  WAS  HE  NOMINATED? 

After  an  examination  of  the  record  of  the  life 
of  such  a  man  a3  Mr.  Pierce,  the  inquiry  nat¬ 
urally  arises,  Why  was  he  chosen  a  candidate  for 
the  high  office  of  President  of  the  United  States? 
What  is  there  in  his  past  history  that  should  entitle 
him  to  this  distinction  ?  Why  should  the  Amer¬ 
ican  people  m  ike  a  life  like  his  an  example  to  be 
imitated,  and  honored  as  worthy  of  the  highest  of¬ 
fice  of  the  Republic?  The  riddle  is  ready  told.  He 
was  brought  forward  by  Virginia,  the  head  and  front 
of  the  slave  power ,  as  the  fittest  instrument  to  serve 
the  cause  of  Bondage.  He  had  shown  by  every  act 
of  his  public  life  tnat  he  was  most  obedient  to  its 
will.  He  had  uniformly  voted  against  even  consid¬ 
ering  the  petition  of  an  American  citizen  to  Con¬ 
gress,  on  any  subject  that  related  to  slavery.  He  had 
voted  to  lay  any  and  all  such  petitions  on  the  ta¬ 
ble.  He  had  voted  for  worse  than  the  Atherton 
gag.  He  had  refused  to  support  a  candidate  for 
Governor,  (Mr.  Atwood,)  because  he  waa  not  an 
advocate  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  because  he 
entertained  principles  that  wonld  not  allow  him 
to  serve  the  cause  of  slavery.  These  acts  alone 
were  the  cause  of  hi3  nomination,  his  sole  recom¬ 
mendation  1  am  sure  no  other  act  of  his  life 
could  have  recommended  him  to  a  single  member 
of  the  Convention.  Strike  out  this  part  of  his 
history,  and  he  would  no  more  have  been  thought 
of  as  a  candidate  than  any  other  man  in  New  Eng¬ 
land. 

I  ask  the  voters  of  New  York,  the  freemen  of 
the  whole  country,  to  look  at  this  picture.  If 
there  is  a  depth  in  humiliation,  to  which  a  free- 
■nan  c  m  be  brought,  lower  than  this  :  if  there  is 
Humiliation  to  which  an  elector  can  be  subjected, 
more  humbling  than  this,  it  i3  yet  undiscovered. 
A  candidate  for  President  of  twenty-five  millions 
of  people  nominated  and  to  be  supponed  because, 
and  only  because,  he  is  an  instrument,  a 
pledged,  willing  instrument  of  Human  Bond¬ 
age. 

No  elector  can  mistake  the  features  of  this  case. 
When  he  votes  for  Franklin  Piercel  he  votes  to 
support,  maintain,  enlarge,  and  perpetuate  sla¬ 
very  ;  he  vo’es  to  put  a  man  in  power,  whose 
life  is  an  open  record  on  this  sul  j  >ot,  that  no  man 
can  mistake. 

WHIG  NOMINATION. 

There  are  conflicts  in  as  well  a9  between  parties. 
Tne  Whig  party  met  in  Convention,  with  rival 
candidates  for  its  favor ;  men  who  were  known  to 
the  history  of  the  country  —  who  were  distin¬ 
guished  for  high  order  of  talent,  and  for  eminent 
service;  men  whose  names  will  go  down  to  pos¬ 
terity  as  am  mg  the  most  distinguished  patriots, 
statesmen,  and  heroes,  of  the  age  in  which  they 
lived;  men  who  have  shared  largely  in  the  con¬ 
fidence  of  their  countrymen  —  who  have  been 
equally  successful  ia  the  distinguished  posi'ims 
they  have  occupied — who  have  executed  with 
fidelity  and  marked  ability  every  trust  committed 
to  their  hands.  That  there  should  have  been  at¬ 
tachment,  warm  and  ardent  attachment,  on  the 
part  of  friends,  to  such  men,  wa3  inevitable;  u - 


15 


deed,  it  would  have  been  a  sad  commentary  on 
human  nature  had  it  been  otherwise. 

MR.  WEBSTER. 

For  gigantic  powers  of  mind  ;  for  mighty  grasp 
of  intellectual  greatness;  for  comprehensive 
thought  and  power  of  logical  deduction,  Mr 
Webster  wears  throughout  the  world  the  peer¬ 
less  name  of  The  Great  American. 

MR.  FILLMORE. 

For  a  firm  and  faithful  administration  of  the 
laws;  for  enlightened,  patriotic  nationality  of 
feeling ;  for  love  of  Union  that  “  knows  no  North, 
no  South,”  the  events  of  a  most  eventful  Admin¬ 
istration  have  proved  Mr.  Fillmore  a  statesman 
in  whom  the  nation  may  confide  in  safety. 

GEN.  SCOTT 

► 

For  that  high  order  of  powers  which  command 
universal  confidence  in  the  hour  of  trial ;  for  that 
energy  in  execution,  that  secures  whit  philosophy 
bf  thought  and  a  wise  forecast  has  marked  out; 
for  all  that  makes  the  name  of  hero  honored  by 
mankind  ;  for  all  that  makes  the  vindicator  of  his 
country’s  wrongs  adored  ;  for  all  the  blended 
powers  of  warrior,  statesman,  sage  ;  for  many  a 
victory  won  ;  for  fraternal  strife  assuaged  ;  for 
capacity,  iu  peace  or  war,  to  do  what  should  be 
done,  forty  years  of  our  country’s  history  proves 
General  Scott  has  no  superior. 

GEN.  SCOTT  NOMINATED — HIS  CAREER. 

After  a  gallant  and  generous  rivalry  among 
friends,  the  nomination  fell  on  General  Scott,  and 
he  now  srands  the  unanimously  nominated  candi¬ 
date  of  the  Whig  party.  The  history  of  the  past, 
the  record  cf  nearly  all  the  important  events  in 
the  Government  for  forty  years,  attest  bis  distin¬ 
guished  character,  and  his  eminent  fitness  to  fill 
the  exalted  station  for  which  he  is  now  presented. 
Wise  in  council,  firm  and  energetic  in  execution, 
experienced  by  a  long  life  devoted  to  the  public 
service;  the  accomplished  soldier,  the  successful 
negotiator;  having  a  profound  knowledge  of  all 
the  civil  relations  of  the  country,  and  being 
familiarly  acquainted  wivh  the  wants  and  neces¬ 
sities  of  the  great  mass  of  the  American  people, 
by  an  intimate  knowledge  of  all  parts  of  the  coun¬ 
try.  I  believe  General  Scott  is  better  calculated 
to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the  times,  and  to  carry 
on  successfully,  to  the  eqml  advantage  of  all.  a 
National  Administration,  than  any  candidate  who 
could  be  presented.  A  lofty,  glorious,  and  con¬ 
stant  intercourse  with  the  wir  power,  has  made 
him  the  most  brilliant  captain  of  the  age.  O  n* 
foreign  relations,  iu  case  of  war,  are  safe  in  his 
•hands.  Danger  has  never  deterred,  nor  sudden 
sickness  prevented,  his  winning  honors  with  our 
countrymen  in  arms.  Though  a  soldier  by  pro¬ 
fession,  he  is  a  man  of  peace,  and  every  act  of 
his  life  has  shown  that  he  is  against  shedding  the 
blood  of  battles,  except,  as  a  stern  necessity.  He 
has  don*  as  muon,  by  treaty  and  negotiation,  to 
avoid  u itional  difficul'y,  as  any  man.  statesman  or 
soldier,  the  country  has  ever  produced.  And  he 
has  at  all  times  had  the  peculiar  faculty  to  inspire 
confiience  in  bis  capacity  to  succeed  in  etfor's  at 
amicable  adjustment.  Even  his  political  oppo¬ 


nents  have  never  failed  to  ascribe  to  him  this  pe¬ 
culiar  power. 

NULLIFICATION 

In  the  palmiest  days  of  General  Jackson, 
when  his  iron  will  was  fixed  iu  its  firmest 
intensity  against  the  insubordination  of  South 
Carolina,  the  first  and  only  man  selected  by  him, 
to  quiet  the  disturbing  elements  of  discord,  was 
Gen.  Scott.  And  with  a  few  patriotic  associates 
he  repaired  to  the  midst  of  this  raging  storm  of 
nullification,  to  re-open  the  council  fires  of  union, 
of  concord,  of  loyalty,  and  of  peace.  Aud  he  re¬ 
turned  from  his  mission  with  no  victorious  wreaths 
in  battle  won,  but  bearing  the  olive  branch  of 
peace  restored — and  thus  the  warrior  and  man  of 
peace  scattered  the  gathering  clouds,  ready  to 
pour  upon  the  country  a  storm  of  dissolution 

REMOVAL  OF  THE  CHEROitEES. 

War  had  raged  in  the  red  man’e  camp,  and  many 
a  noble  Cherokee  had  laid  his  stalwart  form  cold 
in  death,  in  a  vain  defence  of  his  native  land. 
The  lust  of  power  was  upon  him,  and  his  struggle 
was  but  to  die.  The  Anglo-Saxon  race  wanted 
land — and  they  m  .rched  to  its  possession  torough 
the  hearts  of  its  possessors  But  there  wa3  a 
power  behind  the  throne,  greater  than  the  throne 
itself.  The  bleeding  red  man  saw  the  hand  of 
mercy,  and  listened  to  its  counsels.  The  defenders 
of  their  fathers’  graves  gather  round  the  media¬ 
tor  of  their  wrongs,  and  again  the  council-fires 
were  opened,  and  the  brave,  the  just,  the  pitying 
Scott  negotiates,  concludes,  secures  an  honorable 
peace  The  .ruthless  strife  was  ended,  the  Indian 
saved,  and  our  country’s  honor  preserved  from 
darker  blot.  For  this  noble  deed  there  is  not  a 
philanthropic  Christian  spirit  that  breathes  iu  a 
Christian  land,  but  blesses  the  name  of  Scott. 

NORTHEASTERN  BOUNDARY. 

An  exciting  and  dangerous  question  had  long 
existed  in  relation  ro  the  Northeastern  boundary 
between  this  couatry  and  the  British  Provinces. 
Negotiation  after  negotiation  had  failed,  and  the 
people  of  Maine  bee  .ms  exasperated,  and  actual 
hostilities  had  nearly  broken  out,  when  General 
Scott  was  sent  by  Mr.  Van  Buren  to  the  Beene  of 
difficulty.  And  the  wild  passions  of  thetimes,  that 
threatened  to  imbrue  the  two  mtionsiu  a  general 
war,  were  allayed ;  the  public  mind  was  quieted, 
and  confi  leuce  restored,  till  time  w is  given  for 
the  ultimate  settlement  of  this  mist  dmgerou3 
question.  Thus  again  the  wise  mediator  dispelled 
the  lowering  clouds  of  war,  and  the  nation  wi3 
agiin  saved  from  the  desolating  hand  of  murder¬ 
ous  slaughter. 

REFLECTION 

It  is  wise  for  men.  as  well  as  nations,  to  reflect 
on  the  great  poia's  of  human  character  Here 
was  a  d>8riuguishad  hen,  who  never  failed  to 
reap  unfading  laurels  for  himself  ou  the  great 
theatre  of  war,  bending  oil  >he  energiasof  his  min  i 
to  avert,,  for  t lie  sake  of  his  country,  the  direful 
c dimities  that  follow  in  the  iraiu  or  the  last  ar¬ 
biter  of  nations.  Taough  iu  such  a  dhoik  of 
arms  he  might  have  made  his  own  name  immortal, 
he  hushed  the  voice  of  person  il  ambition,  put 
under  his  feet  all  consi  lerations  of  a  selfish  char- 


16 


acter,  and  breasted  the  storm  of  prejudice,  pas¬ 
sion,  and  heated  imagination,  till  cooler  counsels 
could  prevail,  and  in  the  end,  in  this  as  in  all  things 
else  he  has  undertaken,  triumphantly  succeeded. 

■  A  SOLDIER. 

Need  I  say  anything  of  him  as  a  soldier,  or  to 
awaken  the  American  heart  to  a  just  sense  of  his 
unparalleled  career  in  the  wars  of  his  country? 
From  youth  to  manhood,  from  manhood  to  old 
age,  he  has  done  nought  but  lead  our  victorious 
armies  on  to  conquering  and  to  conquest.  From 
Niagara’s  flood,  from  Lundy’s  Lane,  through 
many  an  Indian  fight,  to  the  burning  plains  of 
Mexico,  he  has  borne  aloft  our  stars  and  stripes, 
unchecked,  unconquered,  and  unsubdued,  till  our 
country,  our  countrymen,  and  the  world,  hail  him 
as  the  unconquerable  chief — the  heroic  soldier 
who  has  braved  the  storm  of  war  and  borne  down 
his  country’s  foes  on  every  field  of  conflict,  in 
every  clash  of  arms.  In  arms,  in  council,  and  in 
State,  he  has  ever  been  the  bold  vindicator  of  our 
rights,  and  the  fearless  avenger  of  our  wrongs. 

HIS  REVILERS. 

With  a  character  like  hi3,  how  depraved  and 
worthless  appear  the  viper  sycophants  of  party, 
that  assail  his  war-worn  name  with  the  filth  of 
their  own  depravity  !  While  he  was  fighting  the 
battles  of  his  country,  baring  his  bosom  to  the 
deadly  fire  of  the  legions  of  a  British  King,  the}', 
in  the  nursery  of  their  mothers,  were  growing  up 
to  enjoy  the  national  renown  of  hie  valorous 
deeds.  While  he  was  with  his  own  hands  pulling 
down  the  British  fltg  at  Fort  George;  battering 
down  the  walls  of  Vera  Cruz;  piercing  the  de¬ 
files  of  Cerro  Gordo,  in  the  face  of  the  thunder  of 
the  enemy’s  artillery ;  when  sweeping  the  plains 
of  Churubusco ;  when,  after  fearful  cartidge,  plant¬ 
ing  our  flag  on  the  wall  of  Molino  del  R.ey ;  and 
when,  after  &  campaign  of  more  fighting,  and 
more  glorious  in  its  triumphs,  than  is  recorded  in 
modern  history,  he  is  seen  unfurli-  g  the  American 
Banner  in  the  Halls  of  the  Montezumas — where, 
during  all  these  thrilling  scenes,  that  astonished 
jan  admiring  world,  was  this  little  viper  race — this 
paltry  band  of  paid  hirelings  ?  Echo  answers, 
where  ?  But  pay  the  price,  and  they  can  be  hired 
to  traduce  the  character  of  Gen.  Washington,  cr 
any  soldier  of  his  country.  That  Gen.  Scott  bears 
honorable  scars,  or  cirries  the  ball  of  a  British 
musket  in  his  body,  ;s  nothing  to  them  ;  they  have 
no  blood  to  shed  for  their  country,  and  no  respect 
for  the  ghed  blood  of  others.  Bat  the  country 
will  vindicate,  gloriously  vindicate,  him  who  shed 
the  first  blood  of  youth  and  perilled  the  life  of 
age  in  his  ciumry’s  cause. 

HIS  MILITARY  CHARACTER. 

G^n.  Scott,  in  his  military  career,  is  pre-emi¬ 
nently  the  first  mac  in  America.  His  conduct  in 
the  war  with  Mexico  is  held  by  all  military  men, 
in  this  country  and  in  Europe,  as  evidence  of  the 
highest  military  genius.  In  every  battle  tri¬ 
umphant  success  was  the  result.  He  march-:  d 
into  an  enemy’s  country,  with  a  little  army  of  not 
more  than  ten  thousand  men,  and  in  the  course 
of  a  few  mont  hs  secured,  by  a  succession  of  bat¬ 
tles  unparalleled  for  brilliancy  and  successful 
achievement,  a  line  of  communkafion  from  the 


seaboard  to  the  capital  of  the  country.  In  fact, 
he  conquered  the  country.  The  great  city  of 
Mexico  fell  into  his  hands.  He  gave  to  his  coun¬ 
try,  in  one  campaign,  the  Eldorado  of  the  world; 
the  fields  of  golden  harvest;*  the  great  gateway  of 
commerce  on  the  Pacific;  the  land  that  De  Soto 
south',  but.  never  found. 

After  all  his  victories,  after  the  conquest  of 
near  a  quarter  of  North  America,  this  brave 
General,  while  still  in  a  foreign  land,  at  the  head 
of  our  victorious  armies,  and  in  the  face  of  a  lurk¬ 
ing  enemy,  was  deprived  of  his  command,  recalled 
from  the  field  of  his  glory,  to  answer  to  petty 
charges  originating  in  low.  political  hatred.  To 
so  deep  a  depth  was  this  scene  of  persecution  car¬ 
ried  that  he  was  actually  put  on  trial  as  a  public 
offender.  That  this  attempt  to  compass  his  ruin 
struck  the  public  mind  with  disgust,  that  it  failed, 
totally  failed,  wa3  no  fault  of  those  who  contrived  • 
the  plot  for  his  overthrow.  The  people  will  avenge 
this  wrong.  It  was  no  less  a  wrong  to  the  people 
than  to  Gen.  Scott.  The  rights  of  the  whole 
country  were  violated  by  this  attempt,  in  the  time 
of  war,  to  destroy  the  commander  of  our  army  and 
the  conqueror  of  Mexico. 

HIS  HUMANITY. 

The  humanity  of  Gen  Scott  is  not  surpassed 
by  his  military  prowess.  Such  was  his  conduct 
in  Mexico,  when  he  held  the  whole  country  at 
his  command,  that  even  the  people  of  that  subju¬ 
gated  country  offered  to  him  the  whole  civil  power, 
and  to  place  him  at  the  head  of  the  Republic, 
with  an  immense  salary,  if  he  would  accept  so  dis¬ 
tinguished  a  position.  But  having  no  selfish  ends 
to  serve,  in  the  spirit  of  patriotic  devotion  to  his 
country  alone,  he  refused  the  proffered  power. 

THE  CONTRAST. 

In  every  point  of  view,  the  contrast  between  the 
two  candidates  is  so  marked,  I  am  sure  the  great 
body  of  enlightened,  patriotic  men  will  come  to 
the  same  conclusion  as  to  duty  in  this  canvass. 
They  will  sustain  the  man  who  has  sustained  the 
great  interests  of  the  country  on  all  occasions,  in 
every  trial,  both  in  peace  and  in  war.  Elect 
Gen.  Scott,  and  all  is  safe — safe  from  outward  foes 
and  from  internal  commotion.  Honor  the  man 
who  has  done  honor  to  his  country,  and  all  wi.l 
be  well. 

IRISH  PRISONERS. 

One  incident,  and  I  am  done.  Gen.  Scott  never 
forgets  bis  duty.  While  a  prisoner,  and  in  the 
power  of  his  enemies,  he  learned  that  among  the 
prisoners  w^re  several  Irish  soldiers,  and  that  the 
English  officers  were  endeavoring  to  separate, 
them  from  the  others,  to  send  them  to  England 
for  trial  as  traitors  to  the  Brit'sh  Crown.  He  at 
once  bid  defiance  to  his  guard,  and  declared  to 
those  who  held  him  in  their  power,  that,  if  they 
attempted  to  carry  their  ^purpose  into  execution, 
he  would  retaliate  on  English  prisoners  in  the 
hands  of  the  American  forces.  He  procured  the 
passage  uf  a  law  to  that  effect,  and  dispatched  the 
information  to  the  British  c;mp,  and  every  one  of 
these  Irish  patriots  were  saved  from  the  vengeance 
of  their  old  oppress  .rs.  These  men  lived  to  re¬ 
turn  to  America,  and  to  thank  their  brave  de¬ 
fender  for  their  deliverance. 


